Snakes, sheep and a poignant message from a little boy are part of an important, bilingual public awareness campaign by the Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) to help warn against the dangers of using menthol cigarettes, electronic vaping devices and tobacco-flavored products.
The local educational campaign in English and Spanish is focused on reaching Latino and African-American youths and adults, especially in Northwest Pasadena, with social media messages, bus shelter displays, interior placards inside Pasadena Transit buses and point-of-sale ads voluntarily used by tobacco retailers inside stores.
City Health Officer Dr. Ying-Ying Goh said tobacco use is still the number one preventable cause of death in the United States and statistics show the use of these types of tobacco products are very popular products with Hispanic/Latinos and African Americans.
Funding for the educational campaign comes from a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program.
Currently, the federal REACH program has provided 49 grants, but Pasadena is the only city-based health department in the country to receive funding and is also the only grantee using the funds for an anti-menthol, anti-tobacco product prevention effort.
For more information about the media campaign and other anti-tobacco efforts, visit stage.cityofpasadena.net/public-health/tobacco-control/, or call (626) 744-6014.