Whether you are fighting for change in your school, community or online, we are here to help and provide you with some examples and tips for creating change.
This toolkit has been designed to introduce you to the real, uncensored and unfiltered facts about the tobacco and vaping industry. Learn how to take action in your school, community or online, and check out our current volunteer opportunities.
We believe that action starts with education.
Remember to always apply tobacco industry denormalization (TID) strategies. Messages should always shift blame away from the user and back on to the industry.
Learn about what rules or laws are already in place. This will help you decide what it is you want or need to change.
It is important that you really know and understand the issue.
Learn about everyone involved in the issue.
Educate others. Get the word out. Spread awareness about the issue, the impacts, what they can do, and what will happen if nothing changes.
The goal of mobilizing is to influence others to take action and create change.
Show others all the good things about being involved.
Decide what it is you want changed. Have a set goal and a clear message. People will take you more seriously and will be more likely to join in.
A call to action is what you want people to do to make change.
Keep it simple. Make your message engaging and memorable. Show decision-makers that you care about the issue.
Examples of calls to action include:
All systems are a go! Time to take action!
Great advocacy is a way of not only making people aware about your issue, but to make them care enough about it, so that they will follow in the action! Check out the UNICEF Youth Advocacy Toolkit that guides you though a plan to develop an advocacy campaign.
Join your school’s Health Action Team (HAT) to help students learn more about health and well-being, and advocate for positive changes in your school. Work with your HAT to take action to reduce youth nicotine use – your School Public Health Nurse can help!
Some ideas you could add to your HAT’s action plan could be:
Check out our Unfiltered Facts campaigns for more ideas and tools for action in your school.
Find out if there are other groups in your community that are fighting for the same or similar causes and
support each other. Click here to see examples of youth advocates.
The number one way to stick it to the industry is to never start or take steps to quit using their products.
Hamilton’s leading youth health advocacy group. Using creative engagement strategies to provide peers with the unfiltered facts about health issues that affect them.