Smokefree is proud to announce a partnership with the Big Day Out 2009. This will be the first time in the event's history that no tobacco products will be sold at the venue and, additionally, free quit support will be available all day.
The partnership between Smokefree and the Big Day Out complements Smokefree’s work to reinforce growing societal trends towards the rejection of tobacco.
Big Day Out representative Campbell Smith said: "The Big Day Out is delighted to welcome Smokefree as a partner for big day out, starting with the 2009 event. It’s a great step for us to be able to promote such an important message, especially to our younger patrons. The local produce stage will be known for the first time as "The Smokefree local produce stage". This is the stage where all the young, up and coming artists who will be the stars of New Zealand music in the future play, those musicians who have it all ahead of them. It’s great to have Smokefree involved with this stage."
Smoking kills around 5000 New Zealanders each year’ said Heidi Flaxman, Smokefree’s Youth Marketing Manager. ‘It’s important that we support those smokers who wish they didn’t smoke, to quit, and continue to discourage non-smokers from starting. The Big Day Out is a great vehicle for us to communicate our messages to young people, and the partnership is an extension of our 18 year support of grass roots NZ music via Smokefreerockquest’.
New Zealand’s smoking rate has fallen to its lowest level since monitoring of tobacco use began more than 30 years ago. Ministry of Health and ASH research puts smoking prevalence at a record low. 19.9% of New Zealanders (aged 15 years and over) are current smokers and 12.8% of young people in year 10 report smoking at least monthly.
Of the young people who do smoke, most (72.3%) say they would not smoke if they had their lives over.
Smokefree’s current youth campaign ‘Smoking Not Our Future’ will have a strong presence at the Big Day Out. The campaign promotes anti-smoking and positive quitting messages via celebrity testimonials (many of them musicians who will feature in the line up for the Big Day Out) and aims to challenge attitudes towards smoking among young people aged 12 to 24 years.
Of 939 respondents in a recent evaluation of the Smoking Not Our Future campaign, 74% agreed that the ads make smoking seem 'less cool' and 82%of those aged 12-14 years and 63% of those aged 15-17 years agreed that the ads have put them off smoking.
One in four respondents reported knowing someone who has tried to quit smoking as a result of the campaign, and around half of young people who smoke reported that the ads made them think they should try and quit.