SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 4, 2003
CONTACT: Angela Campbell, 367-7211

State targets smokeless tobacco in new ad campaign;
Rodeo themed ads will feature SD youth

     SIOUX FALLS – This week the state launched a media campaign aimed at preventing smokeless tobacco use.  South Dakota, along with many rural Midwestern states, has one of the highest rates of smokeless tobacco use in the nation.

     The campaign features testimonials from people affected by smokeless tobacco use in different ways.  Rick Bender’s face was disfigured as a result of multiple surgeries due to oral cancer.  Tiny Carey lost her seemingly healthy husband to cancer in a matter of months.  Joe Doboer started dipping at 11 and was only 17 when he developed leukoplakia, a sign of pre-cancer that appears as white patches of skin on a person’s gums.  A series of print ads were also developed that feature local youth involved in rodeo, a sport long associated with smokeless tobacco use.  These ads aim to counter the latest ad campaign by Copenhagen, which uses a testimonial from rodeo star Ty Murray.

     This campaign comes at a time when tobacco companies are devising new strategies to lure users to their smokeless products.  Ads by major companies, such as US Smokeless Tobacco, are now promoting their brands by offering them as a safe alternative to cigarettes.  In an effort to make spit tobacco more appealing, brands are starting to offer tobacco in small packets and with different flavors.  Widespread increases in workplace smoking bans and an increase in cigarette taxes also have made smokeless tobacco a cheaper alternative and more socially appealing to youth.

     According to a recently released government report, smokeless tobacco companies have also increased their advertising and promotional spending by 39
percent from 1999 to 2001.  Promotional allowances such as those to retailers, "buy one, get one free" offers, and other giveaways were the top expenditures, 
with coupons and magazine advertising also contributing heavily to the $236.7 million in industry spending.  As a result, smokeless tobacco sales also rose
steadily during this time.

     This campaign is a part of Department of Health’s youth prevention program.  The program is in its fourth year of educating SD youth about the dangers of tobacco use.  South Dakota is one of twelve states awarded grants from the American Legacy Foundation, which receives funding from a national tobacco settlement.  The funds are to be used by youth for youth to prevent future tobacco addiction.

     For more information, visit www.state.sd.us/doh/tobacco.