Jayden Marshall of Fillmore Central School joined more than fifty youth and advocates from 9 national organizations to rally at Altria Group, Inc.’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. These young people and adults held a demonstration outside Altria’s Lobbyist Office, Washington, D.C. office, while several youth activists were designees to directly address Altria’s CEO Billy Gifford and ask questions during the virtual shareholders’ meeting. Altria’s messaging and the movement of youth to using vaping and nicotine pouches, helped create the theme of this year’s Mobilize Against Tobacco Lies event which was “Same Snake, Different Skin” referencing that the tobacco industry might be promoting alternative products to traditional cigarettes, but all these products contain nicotine, many higher than cigarettes and come in appealing flavors to youth.

This year marks the ninth consecutive year that Mobilize Against Tobacco Lies (MATL), a collaborative of youth programs and national partners, gathered to expose and fight back against the tobacco giant’s lies.

Reality Check youth from across New York State rallied with a collaborative of tobacco control youth programs including Dover Youth to Youth of New Hampshire, Traditional Tobacco Voices in Minnesota, and national partners; Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Indian Cancer Foundation, Corporate Accountability, Counter Tools, Center for Black Health and Equity, and the Truth Initiative.

Altria and its Philip Morris USA subsidiary sell the number one most popular cigarette brand among kids, Marlboro, and its John Middleton subsidiary sells one of the most popular cigar brands among kids, Black and Mild, US Smokeless Tobacco subsidiary sells the top two smokeless tobacco brands Copenhagen and Skoal. Altria has a long history of targeting vulnerable populations with its products and invested in Juul at the height of the youth e-cigarette epidemic. Altria in 2023 sold its percentage of ownership in JUUL as it’s popularity has fallen and has failed to get Food and Drug Administration approval and purchased NJOY Holdings, Inc. Altria claims to be “moving beyond smoking,” but the truth is that they make most of their revenue from cigarettes and fight real efforts to reduce smoking – such as bans on menthol cigarettes. Altria and the other big tobacco companies quote youth smoking rates are at all-time lows, but youth consumption of nicotine has not declined as they have moved to as Altria claims “potentially less harmful products”, such as vaping and nicotine pouches.

Despite Altria and the tobacco industry’s efforts, the United States has made great progress to reduce youth smoking. However, the latest government survey shows that 2.8 million U.S middle and high school students still use tobacco products, including 2.13 million who use e-cigarettes.

Reality Check is a teen-led, adult-run program that seeks to prevent and decrease tobacco use among young people throughout New York State. 

For more information about Reality Check, visit realitycheckofny.org.

Reality Check New York empowers youth to become leaders in their community in exposing what they see as the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry. The organization’s members produce change in their communities through grassroots mobilization and education. Reality Check in this area is affiliated with Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany (TF-CCA), a program of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The NYS Tobacco Control Program is made up of a network of statewide contractors who work on Advancing Tobacco-Free Communities, which includes Community Engagement and Reality Check, the Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free New York, the NYS Smokers’ Quitline and Surveillance and Research. Their efforts are leading the way toward a tobacco-free society. For more information, visit TobaccoFreeNYS.org.