Counter Tobacco launched their third annual photo contest yesterday. Each year, Counter Tobacco holds a photo contest encouraging the public to use their mobile devices to capture the tobacco industry’s point-of-sale marketing tactics in their communities. The contest is looking for images that can be placed in one or more of the following categories: Greatest Youth Appeal, E-Cigarettes, Stores near Schools, Best, Map or Info-graphic, Funniest/Most Ironic, Novel Products, and Flavored Little Cigar/Cigarillos. Images that meet eligibility requirements will be permanently showcased in Counter Tobacco’s online image gallery, which serves as both an educational resource and a tool in fighting the war against point-of-sale tobacco marketing. Winners will receive bragging rights and a Counter Tobacco prize pack. The deadline for submissions is September 18, 11:59 p.m. EST. Visit the CounterTobacco.org website for more information on the contest and to view previous years’ entries.
Counter Tobacco was founded in 2011 by Kurt M. Ribisl, PhD, Professor of Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Program Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Allison Myers, MPH, a doctoral student in the Health Behavior Department. It serves as the first comprehensive resource for local, state, and federal organizations working to counteract tobacco product sales and point-of-sale, or checkout marketing. Counter Tobacco aims to thwart point-of-sale tobacco marketing, a tactic used by the tobacco industry which builds positive brand recognition, encourages tobacco use initiation and consumption, and undermines consumer attempts to quit smoking. In addition to solving the point-of-sale problem, Counter Tobacco’s tobacco control programming includes raising cigarette excise taxes, implementing clean indoor-air laws, promoting smoking cessation, and launching hard-hitting counter-marketing campaigns against the industry.