Copyright, Sudipto_Sarkar, Flickr

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Big Tobacco spends $1 million per hour (PER HOUR!!) marketing their products.

That’s $10 billion – billion, with a “B” – to get people, including 1.4 million kids, to try their first cigarette annually. A new U.S. Surgeon General report indicates nearly 1,200 people die daily in the U.S. from tobacco-related diseases, and interestingly, 9 out of 10 smokers began using before age 18. Big Tobacco continues to circumvent youth marketing laws, finding new ways to reach young people. For example, tobacco companies have increased their marketing in stores they know teens visit frequently, they package tobacco in flavors and displays to taste and look like candy, and they produce cheap, candy-flavored cigars.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-m9arDwWaI

Can you imagine what we could do for our public health system with an additional $10 billion per year (and healthier non-smokers)? Tobacco is the world’s most preventable cause of cancer. Let’s save lives rather than addict them to carcinogens.

Today is the 17th annual Kick Butts Day. I stand with kids and health advocates throughout the U.S. demanding tobacco companies to stop targeting children and adolescents and urging elected officials to protect them from these lethal products.