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<br />North Carolina Kids to 'Kick Butts' on March 16 <br />State Leaders Urged to Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free <br /> <br />WASHINGTON, March 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kids in North Carolina will stand up to Big <br />Tobacco on March 16 as they join thousands of young people nationwide for Kick Butts Day. More than <br />1,000 events are planned across the United States and around the world for this annual day of youth <br />activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (See below for a list of local events.) <br />On Kick Butts Day, kids demand that tobacco companies stop marketing deadly products to them and <br />encourage elected officials to help reduce youth tobacco use. <br />This year, Kick Butts Day is focusing attention on the outrageous marketing tactics tobacco companies <br />still use to target youth. These tactics include: <br />•Splashy ads in magazines with large youth readership, such as Sports Illustrated, Glamour and Rolling <br />Stone. <br />•Widespread advertising and price discounts in stores, which make tobacco products appealing and <br />affordable to kids. <br />•Sweet-flavored tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes and small cigars that come in flavors like <br />gummy bear, cotton candy, watermelon and fruit punch. While youth cigarette smoking has fallen to <br />record lows, the most recent government survey shows that e-cigarette use among high school students <br />tripled from 2013 to 2014 (from 4.5 percent to 13.4 percent). <br />Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $9.6 billion a year – over one million dollars every hour – to <br />market tobacco products. In North Carolina, tobacco companies spend $392.2 million annually on <br />marketing efforts. <br />"On Kick Butts Day, kids stand up to the tobacco industry and all of us, especially our elected officials, <br />should stand with them," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. <br />"We've made amazing progress in reducing youth smoking and can make the next generation tobacco- <br />free. Elected officials in every state should help reach that goal by supporting proven strategies to <br />prevent youth tobacco use, including higher tobacco taxes, strong smoke-free laws, prevention <br />programs and raising the tobacco age to 21."