The Creative Side to Tobacco Control

Question of the Month
May 2001

People learn and are moved in different ways. It's cliche, but a picture can tell what a thousand words often cannot. A simple story can speak to the spirit more powerfully than a long list of dire statistics. And a joke can help us keep our sense of humor, while working to counter one of the most serious epidemics of our day and the powerful industry behind it.

We may not all be financially well-off (as the responses to last month's clarified), but we are rich in talent and creativity. Among us are artists, musicians, songwriters, master storytellers, poets, and humorists -- as well as those who appreciate the arts and a good joke.

Have a favorite tobacco-related cartoon pinned to your bulletin board? Ever made a parody of a Marlboro advertisement? Got a particular story that you like to tell clients who smoke? This month's question is for you!

Question: What is your favorite tobacco-related joke, story, cartoon, song, costume, poem, parody, and/or piece of art?

Share favorites with your partner and Essential Action. You may want to incorporate your partner's examples into your presentations, patient consultations, and publications. Feel free to send or email photos for us to put up on the web.

To inspire you*, see below for some examples already shared by other GPTC participants. Or go to
http://www.theartcanvas.com/gogh.cigskull86.htm for a much older, but timeless anti-tobacco work of art.

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES

Song: "NOTTINGHAM"
Dan Eumarian is a songwriter-singer-publisher, music teacher, piano technician and dealer who lives in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. Earlier this year Dan was inspired by British American Tobacco's multimillion dollar donation to Nottingham University for an "International Centre for Corporate Social
Responsibility" to write this song.

Stories: "SMOKING EARS" & "CHILDREN, HORSES, & MOSQUITOS"
Juan Almendares of CONACTA (Honduras) is a master of words, both in English and Spanish. Learn about a dream that influenced one young Honduran boy to quit smoking in "Smoking Ears"
-- and in "Children, Horses, & Mosquitos," how women high up in the mountains of Honduras used the lesson of the mosquito to convince the men of their village to turn their backs on the Marlboro Man. It's hard not to be inspired by this simple, but powerful tale of one village's success in going "smoke-free."

Humor: TOBACCO SWEEPSTAKES "EVERY SMOKER A SURE WINNER!"
Bobby del Rosario of D.R. & Associates, Co. in the Philippines sent us
this parody of a tobacco company sweepstakes offer.

Art: "MARLBORO: THE CIGARETTE THAT KILLS THE MOST..."
In Senegal, Marlboro is advertised as "the cigarette sold most around
the world." On World No Tobacco Day 1998 young Senegalese anti-tobacco
activists marched along the streets of Dakar holding signs with an
alternative message.

* If you want, go ahead and turn this month's question into a mini partnership activity. For example, some partnerships might want to write up a satirical piece based on the names of Philip Morris cigarette brands sold around the world, such as: Congress, Parliament, Red & White, Merit, Visa, Mercedes, Full Speed, Diplomats, Bond Street, Galaxy, Apollo Soyuz, Palace, Colorado, Dallas, Derby, Partner, Fiesta, Good Companions, Lark, Diana, Basic, Brunette. A longer list is available at http://www.pmintl.com/about_us/products.html#