Washington, DC – As Altria Group Inc. shareholders held their annual virtual meeting on May 15, approximately 50 youth advocates, including William Washburn and Grant Smolen, students at Fillmore Central School, held a first amendment assembly encouraging the public “Don’t Get Caught in Altria’s Web of Lies.” Several students logged into the Altria meeting through share ownership and submitted questions to the CEO about the lies and deceit, demanding truth and corporate responsibility. Watch the collaborative outside the Altria Lobbyist Office during the shareholders meeting at Mobilize Against Tobacco Lies on Facebook.

“I’m so proud of the local youth for exposing the misleading claims and deceitful marketing tactics used by Altria and other tobacco companies to attract young people,” said Jonathan Chaffee, Youth Coordinator at Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany (TF-CCA). “Now that they have shared their voice in Washington, D.C., they plan to continue to address the challenges of tobacco use in their communities back home, as well as mobilize their peers to take action.”

This year marks the tenth consecutive year that Mobilize Against Tobacco Lies (MATL), a tobacco prevention group made up of several active youth groups from around the nation including Reality Check from New York, Dover Youth to Youth from New Hampshire and Wisconsin FACT. Their efforts are supported by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Corporate Accountability, Truth Initiative and Counter Tools.

Big Tobacco has been lying about the deadly effects of cigarettes and manipulating the American people for decades, marketing to children and minority populations, and lying to the public about the dangers of smoking.

For more than two decades, Altria’s tobacco companies claim to have made significant investments to reduce youth use of tobacco yet during those years Altria has targeted young people with candy- and fruit-flavored products, making them more appealing and accessible. 

Now, Altria has adopted a new product, ON! Nicotine pouches, as the latest marketing frontier for deceit.

ON! comes in seven different flavors and also contains the same addictive nicotine that trapped millions of youth in Altria’s scaly grip.

The lies don’t end there. Tobacco companies falsely denied that they can and do manipulate the level of nicotine in their products to create and sustain addiction and have been since at least 1954.

– Tobacco companies falsely denied, distorted and minimized the link between cigarette smoking and disease. – Tobacco companies concealed evidence and publicly denied that nicotine is addictive.

– Tobacco companies falsely marketed and promoted low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain revenue

– Tobacco companies internally acknowledged that secondhand smoke is hazardous to non-smokers yet still gave false and misleading public statements denying this fact.

For more information follow Mobilize Against Tobacco Lies on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

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). Tobacco-Free CCA is a program of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

For more information about Reality Check, visit realitycheckofny.org. 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 Quitline and Surveillance and Research. Their efforts are leading the way toward a tobacco-free society. For more information, visit TobaccoFreeNYS.org and NYSmokeFree.com.