This high-impact video effectively applies teenage rebelliousness, peer orientation and rejection of authority to the task of discouraging tobacco use.

Teen narrators introduce young viewers to the realities of smoking and spit tobacco – realities which are nothing like the sophisticated, romantic image presented by the tobacco industry.

Having shown that the industry is an adult institution out to trick them (and thus a valid target for their desire to flout authority), the video turns its attention to a more challenging problem – how to reject the pressure from other teens to smoke. This is accomplished through interviews with a panel of teenagers who subtly characterize fellow teens who smoke as misguided dupes seeking converts to keep from being outcasts. The multicultural interview subjects also describe the tactics they employ in rejecting pressure from other teens to smoke, demonstrating that it is not “un-cool” to say no.

The video presents all the medical arguments against tobacco use. However, recognizing that the target audience of 5th through 10th graders has little sense of its own mortality, the arguments emphasize matters of appearance, reduced athletic ability and cost, with which teens can more easily identify.

The video employs crisp editing, lively music and high-tech graphics to hold the attention of its music video-oriented viewers.

Winner of the 2004 Telly Award!