Media Campaign Resource Center (MCRC)

An adolescent boy comes home from school, greets his mom, and throws his backpack on the kitchen counter where she is cutting up fruits. She begins to go through his backpack and finds a package of mints. After popping one in her mouth, she is surprised by the flavor and upon further investigation, reads the package label and finds out it’s actually a smokeless tobacco product. She spits out the mint, slams the tin on the counter, and screams her son’s name.

A mom is offering an excited group of young people popsicles. A young boy wants banana flavor, another wants watermelon, and the girl asks for chocolate syrup on her ice cream. The mom explains that she knows what children like, as does the tobacco industry, which is why they are disguising nicotine products in candy and fruit flavor and marketing them to children.

A pink candy has the skull and crossbones image on it, indicating that the so called treat is poisonous. This is part of a series of ads and materials in a campaign that promotes Tobacco-Free Providence, Rhode Island, and urges parents to get involved in efforts to protect children from the tobacco industry’s tactics. The URL directs consumers to the Sweet Deceit site for additional information. Ads are in 36"x7.5", 72"x21" and 24"x36" resizable dimensions and available in TIFF, JPEG, and PDF formats. May be used for transit areas, gas pump toppers, billboards, and other similar out-of-home placements.