To:                  Illinois Tar Wars Presenters
From:              Ginnie Flynn , Illinois Tar Wars state coordinator
Date:               September 3, 2008  

Welcome to Tar Wars 2008!  

Thank you for teaching an important tobacco prevention lesson to the schools in your community.  I look forward to a new year with each of you and welcome those of you who have joined Tar Wars this year for the first time.  Your volunteer spirit will play an important role in keeping today’s kids from becoming tomorrow’s smokers.

 

Currently Tar Wars reaches about 300 schools across the state.  Our 2008 State Poster Contest Winner, Alexandra Slane of Peoria , had an amazing trip to Washington , DC in July.  In fact, Alexandra and her mom and grandmother were treated to a personal guided tour of the White House with her congressman, Rep. Ray LaHood.  Read more on the IAFP web site at:  http://www.iafp.com/tarwars/Posterwinner2008/dc08.htm

 

You can view the National Poster Contest winning posters at http://www.tarwars.org/x3075.xml and get an idea of just how amazing those posters are! 

 

The Tar Program is celebrating its 20th anniversary!  Tar Wars was founded 20 years ago by Colorado family physician Jeff Cain, MD and health educator Glenna Pember.  Now Tar Wars is at work across the country and around the world!  You can read the entire Tar Wars story at http://www.iafp.com/pdfs/TarWars20.pdf.  In fact, the very first national Tar Wars poster contest winner grew up to become a family physician!

 

 

The Role of Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use

Tobacco use is still the single largest cause of preventable death in the United States . About 20% of American adults still smoke and more than 4,000 adolescents smoke their first cigarette each day.

National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph 19, "The Role of Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use" explores how mass media have affected our attitudes and behaviors toward tobacco use. Media channels have been successfully used to promote tobacco use and to reduce it. Now, when the use of mass media is expanding and the tobacco industry is finding new ways to encourage tobacco use, a full understanding of this issue is vital to public health.

Link to the monograph and plenty of handy printable facts sheets you can use at http://www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/19/index.html

 This report is a good talking point to use during the Tar Wars lesson about smoking portrayed in the movies and other public media such as TV, music videos, video games, and Internet sites.  

Here is your to do list for the new school year!  

1.  IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO PARTICIPATE THIS YEAR, please contact me ASAP to let me know.  Send an e-mail to gflynn@iafp.com or give me a call at 630-427-8004  

2.  Please get the newly revised Tar Wars "Program Guide for Teachers and Presenters" at   It's a 24-page PDF file, under “presentation materials in English” or direct link at http://www.tarwars.org/cgi-bin/download_tracking.pl You will need to fill out the form and select “ Illinois ” from the drop down menu to help the national program track state use/participation.  

If you haven’t visited the Tar Wars Web site at www.tarwars.org please find some time to explore this useful tool.  You’ll find answers to just about any question you (or interested schools) may have.  Plus there are some great resources there for presenters.   

3. Contact your schools.

Your assigned school(s) and all the contact information we have for them will follow in an individual e-mail to you NEXT WEEK.  Please get in touch with the contact person at your school(s) as soon as possible and set up a date.  If your assigned school declines Tar Wars for any reason, please let me know.  Even if you can’t go to the school until months from now, just let them know you are still planning to visit them this year.  

 

If you do not have a school or group assigned to you, contact your local school or contact Ginnie Flynn for help in finding and contacting a local school.  I have a letter you can send to the school with information.
           

Also make sure the teachers get the program guide off the web site and understand that they will need to do some things to prepare for your presentation.  Decide who will provide the tobacco ads, you or the school.   There are sample ads that you can download directly from the Tar Wars web site at:  http://www.tarwars.org/x2097.xml  

4.  Poster contest. After the presentation, encourage your schools to do a poster contest and offer to be a judge.  Complete poster contest guidelines are in the Tar Wars Program Guide.  The school’s poster contest winner should be mailed to Illinois Tar Wars, C/O Illinois Academy of Family Physicians 4756 Main St. Lisle, IL 60532.  Posters will be due in IAFP’s offices by April 6, 2009 .  Only one poster per school, please.    The Illinois state poster contest winner will travel to Washington , D.C. to compete in the National Tar Wars poster contest.  We’re working on other prizes for the state poster contest as well.  

Contact me any time with questions and keep up with the program at www.iafp.com/tarwars.  I will try to keep the e-mails to a minimum, but I’m always available to help!  

Have a great school year! 

Ginnie Flynn
Director of Public Relations and Tar Wars Coordinator
Illinois Academy of Family Physicians
4756 Main St. -- Lisle , IL 60532
Direct:  630-427-8004
Fax:   630-435-0433