Rick Stoddard

Last updated

Rick Stoddard is an anti-smoking activist, recognized for his 2001 Super Bowl public service announcement. Since then, Rick has become a prolific campaigner, speaking about the dangers of tobacco use and the marketing tactics employed by the tobacco industry.

Contents

Campaign Life

Rick started campaigning against smoking shortly after his wife, Marie, was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 1999 due to cigarette smoking. Marie died five and a half months later in January 2000. [1] Rick decided to share his wife's story in the form of several television and radio announcements for the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. Those localized public service announcements gained notoriety and soon became part of a national campaign which was featuring during the 2001 Super Bowl, in which he detailed his wife's death from lung cancer at age 46, stating that "I guess I never thought of 23 as middle aged.'" [2]

Since then, he has been a speaker at various schools and colleges across America. As part of these campaigns, Rick typically shares his personal experiences and provides in-depth, educational information on marketing tactics that tobacco companies use to lure non-smokers. He also speaks to teachers, school administrators and local politicians. During one of these presentations he made clear his views towards the tobacco companies:

When the tobacco industry states they will not advertise to youngsters in this country, they are lying, plain and simple. I travel all around the country talking to anyone trying to stop this and if I can stop one teenager from smoking, that’s a good day. [3]

His career as a carpenter has dwindled as his campaigning against tobacco companies and tobacco use increased. It has been reported that he is on the road up to 200 days a year, leaving little time for carpentry. [4]

Recognition

Stoddard's book, The Burning Truth [5] was selected in 2002 as an "Honorary Hoosier" by Governor Frank O'Bannon of Indiana and was also awarded the national ATOD 2003 Community Based Leadership Award by the American Public Health Association and an honorable "Kentucky Colonel" by Governor Ernie Fletcher in 2007. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette</span> Small roll of tobacco made to be smoked

A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or a herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, different smoking method, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco industry</span> Persons and companies that produce tobacco-related products

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all continents except Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco smoking</span> Practice of burning tobacco and breathing the resulting smoke

Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Mesoamerica and South America. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 17th century by European colonists, where it followed common trade routes. The practice encountered criticism from its first import into the Western world onwards but embedded itself in certain strata of a number of societies before becoming widespread upon the introduction of automated cigarette-rolling apparatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passive smoking</span> Inhalation of tobacco smoke by persons other than the intended active smoker

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called passive smoke, secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by individuals other than the active smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke diffuses into the surrounding atmosphere as an aerosol pollutant, which leads to its inhalation by nearby bystanders within the same environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes many of the same health effects caused by active smoking, although at a lower prevalence due to the reduced concentration of smoke that enters the airway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pipe smoking</span> Tasting or inhaling smoke from a pipe

Pipe smoking is the practice of tasting the smoke produced by burning a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, in a pipe. It is the oldest traditional form of smoking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicotine marketing</span> Marketing technique

Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Products are marketed through social media, stealth marketing, mass media, and sponsorship. Expenditures on nicotine marketing are in the tens of billions a year; in the US alone, spending was over US$1 million per hour in 2016; in 2003, per-capita marketing spending was $290 per adult smoker, or $45 per inhabitant. Nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated; some forms of nicotine advertising are banned in many countries. The World Health Organization recommends a complete tobacco advertising ban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects of tobacco</span> Circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health

Tobacco products, especially when smoked or used orally, have serious negative effects on human health. Smoking and smokeless tobacco use are the single greatest causes of preventable death globally. Half of tobacco users die from complications related to such use. Current smokers are estimated to die an average of 10 years earlier than non-smokers. The World Health Organization estimates that, in total, about 8 million people die from tobacco-related causes, including 1.3 million non-smokers due to secondhand smoke. It is further estimated to have caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century.

Truth is an American public-relations campaign aimed at reducing teen smoking in the United States. It is conducted by the Truth Initiative and funded primarily by money obtained from the tobacco industry under the terms of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement reached between 46 U.S. states and the four largest companies in the tobacco industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannabis smoking</span> Inhalation of marijuana fumes

Cannabis smoking is the inhalation of smoke or vapor released by heating the flowers, leaves, or extracts of cannabis and releasing the main psychoactive chemical, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs. Archaeological evidence indicates cannabis with high levels of THC was being smoked at least 2,500 years ago. As of 2021, cannabis is the most commonly consumed federally illegal drug in the United States, with 36.4 million people consuming it monthly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking</span> Practice of inhaling a burnt substance for psychoactive effects

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have been rolled with a small rectangle of paper into an elongated cylinder called a cigarette. Other forms of smoking include the use of a smoking pipe or a bong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany</span> Overview of the anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany

In the early 20th century, German researchers found additional evidence linking smoking to health harms, which strengthened the anti-tobacco movement in the Weimar Republic and led to a state-supported anti-smoking campaign. Early anti-tobacco movements grew in many nations from the middle of the 19th century. The 1933–1945 anti-tobacco campaigns in Nazi Germany have been widely publicized, although stronger laws than those passed in Germany were passed in some American states, the UK, and elsewhere between 1890 and 1930. After 1941, anti-tobacco campaigns were restricted by the Nazi government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of tobacco</span>

Tobacco was long used by various indigenous groups that lived in the Americas. The Columbian exchange introduced tobacco to the Europeans, and it became an addictive, lucrative and heavily traded commodity. Following the Industrial Revolution, cigarettes became hugely popular worldwide. In the mid-20th century, medical research demonstrated severe negative health effects of tobacco smoking such as lung cancer, which led to governments adopting policies to force a sharp decline in tobacco use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Frank Statement</span> Tobacco advertisement

A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers was a historic first advertisement in a campaign run by major American tobacco companies on January 4, 1954, to create doubt by disputing recent scientific studies linking smoking cigarettes to lung cancer and other dangerous health effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women and smoking</span> Tobacco consumption among women

Tobacco smoking has serious negative effects on the body. A wide variety of diseases and medical phenomena affect the sexes differently, and the same holds true for the effects of tobacco. Since the proliferation of tobacco, many cultures have viewed smoking as a masculine vice, and as such the majority of research into the specific differences between men and women with regards to the effects of tobacco have only been studied in-depth in recent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking in the United Kingdom</span>

Smoking in the United Kingdom involves the consumption of combustible cigarettes and other forms of tobacco in the United Kingdom, as well as the history of the tobacco industry, together with government regulation and medical issues.

"Tobacco" is a segment of the HBO news satire television series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about the tobacco industry. It first aired on February 15, 2015, as part of the second episode of the series' second season. During the eighteen-minute segment, comedian John Oliver discusses tobacco industry trends and practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking in North Korea</span>

Tobacco smoking is popular in North Korea and culturally acceptable among men, but not for women. As of 2019, some 43.6% of men are reported to smoke daily, whilst in contrast only 4.5% of women smoke daily, with most of these being older women from rural areas. Smoking is a leading cause of death in North Korea, and as of 2021 mortality figures indicate that 14.2% of North Koreans die due to smoking-related causes, which is the 6th highest rate after China, Greenland, Kiribati, Denmark and Micronesia. There are tobacco control programs in North Korea, and although smoking was not prohibited in all public spaces, the smoking rates have declined since their peak in the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of nicotine marketing</span>

The history of nicotine marketing stretches back centuries. Nicotine marketing has continually developed new techniques in response to historical circumstances, societal and technological change, and regulation. Counter marketing has also changed, in both message and commonness, over the decades, often in response to pro-nicotine marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iqos</span> Heated tobacco products by Philip Morris International

Iqos is a line of heated tobacco products designed to be used with tobacco and zero-tobacco nicotine-containing consumables. They are manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI). The brand was first introduced in November 2014 in Japan and Italy. At the end of 2023, smoke-free products made up nearly 40% of PMI's total net revenue and gross profit, with Iqos surpassing Marlboro in terms of net revenue.

Electronic cigarettes are marketed to smoking and non-smoking men, women, and children as being safer than cigarettes. In the 2010s, large tobacco businesses accelerated their marketing spending on vape products, similar to the strategies traditional cigarette companies used in the 1950s and 1960s.

References

  1. "Meet Rick Stoddard". The Rapides Foundation. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  2. "Man of the day - Rick Stoddard". Good Men Project. 15 October 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  3. "Rick Stoddard Brings Anti-tobacco Message to Clay County schools". The Rapides Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 Jan 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  4. "Meet Rick Stoddard". The Florida Times Union . Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  5. Stoddard, Rick, "The Burning Truth", 1st Book Library (March 4, 2004), USBN 1414006969
  6. "Rick Stoddard" (PDF). Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium. Retrieved June 18, 2013.