More than 650 teen advocates from across Tennessee came together with public health professionals, community partners, and educators in Chattanooga, Tennessee this July for the 10th annual TNSTRONG Youth Summit. TNSTRONG is a youth-led movement committed to raising awareness about the dangers of nicotine use and empowering young people to create healthier communities.
The TNSTRONG Youth Summit provides youth advocates from across Tennessee with an opportunity to build leadership skills, connect with peers, and learn about tobacco prevention and control issues affecting their communities. Through interactive training, discussions, and hands-on activities across three days, youth participants gain the knowledge and tools they need to become effective advocates and take action when they return to their schools and communities.
Counter Tools was honored to attend this year’s Summit and engage with youth advocates through an interactive session focused on tobacco industry marketing at the point of sale. Participants explored how tobacco products are marketed in the places where people shop every day and examined the ways the tobacco industry uses advertising, product placement, pricing, promotions, and other strategies to attract attention to tobacco and nicotine products and influence consumer behavior.
During the session, youth advocates took a closer look at real-world tobacco industry marketing tactics and discussed how these strategies can disproportionately appeal to and influence young people. They then put their advocacy skills into action, working together to develop counter-messages designed to challenge, expose, and push back against tobacco industry influence.
The creativity and insight youth brought to the activity were inspiring. Their counter-messages demonstrated not only an understanding of the marketing strategies they had observed, but also their ability to translate that knowledge into compelling messages that can educate their peers and communities.
Youth engagement is a critical part of tobacco prevention and control. Young people bring unique perspectives and firsthand insight into the environments where tobacco products are marketed and used. By equipping youth with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to recognize and challenge industry tactics, programs like TNSTRONG help cultivate the next generation of tobacco prevention advocates.
Counter Tools is proud to support opportunities that put data and advocacy tools directly into the hands of young people. We are grateful to TNSTRONG for inviting us to be part of this year’s Youth Summit and, most importantly, for creating a space where Tennessee youth can learn, lead, and make their voices heard.
