Dispelling the Myths About Tobacco

Discussion Guide for Women and Tobacco: Seven Deadly Myths

Contents • Welcome Letter • Seven Deadly Myths • Education & Outreach Activities • Help With Quitting • Making the Media Work for You • Documents Tragetting Women • More References & Resources

Entire Document in Adobe Acrobat Format (PDF - 1121K)

Christy Turlington

The CDC video Women and Tobacco: Seven Deadly Myths was produced to reach women, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 34. Its narrator, Christy Turlington, cover model, entrepreneur, and volunteer tobacco control advocate, is a well-recognized and powerful messenger. She is motivated by the loss of her father to tobacco, her own long-term addiction to cigarettes, and her personal success in finally kicking the tobacco habit for good.

Seven Deadly Myths aims to dispel some of the most powerful untruths that have captured and kept girls and women as smokers. Most of these myths have been perpetrated by tobacco advertising and promotion, but over time, smokers internalize these fictions to rationalize and defend their addiction.

You may want to begin your presentation by showing and discussing the video. It will focus your audience and give them information, ideas, motivation to quit if they smoke, and motivation to stay free from tobacco if they don't smoke. We hope that it will also encourage them to help others become and stay tobacco free.

Personalizing your presentation will make it more powerful. Not everyone in your audience may be able to relate to Christy, but every community has its own "stars" of tobacco control, including ex-smokers who can present testimonials, offer hope, serve as examples, and support those who need help to quit and stay tobacco free.

The previewing questions below can serve as a benchmark or pretest for your audience. At the end of your presentation, you can review the same questions to reinforce the learning that has occurred. You can also administer the posttest to measure how your audience has changed in terms of knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and readiness to quit.

Use the results of the evaluation and other feedback that you get to become better at convincing women to become and stay tobacco free.

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I. Viewing Objectives:

After watching this video, participants will be able to

1. Discuss the myths that surround women and smoking.
2. Define some of the serious health effects of smoking on women.
3. Describe the benefits of quitting smoking.

II. Previewing Questions
Are the following statements true or false? (Answers at bottom of page 7)

1. Lung cancer, which is almost entirely caused by cigarette smoking, is responsible for more deaths among women than breast cancer.

2. As many as one-half of long-term smokers will die of causes related to tobacco.

3. Most teenagers who smoke daily do not expect to continue smoking, but most are still smoking 5 years later.

4. Women who smoke are more likely to have smaller, sicker babies, be infertile, and have more miscarriages.

5. Tobacco companies have known about the destructive health effects of tobacco and the addictive power of nicotine for at least 40 years.

6. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

7. Light cigarettes have the same ingredients as regular cigarettes, including lead, ammonia, benzene, DDT, butane gas, carbon monoxide, arsenic, and polonium 210.

8. More than 50 million Americans have quit smoking.

III. Discussion Questions

Discuss the quotes from the video and answer the questions that follow.

Myth #1: It won't happen to me.

"It's not how I visualize myself dying."
"I can't get lung cancer. I'm only 24."
·Why do some young women start to smoke even though they know that smoking can damage their health?
·Why do you think people like Pam Laffin keep smoking even after smoking has begun to destroy their health?

Myth #2: It's not like I'm hurting anyone but myself.

"Smoking is a civil right worth fighting for."
"Secondhand smoke causes at least 35,000 deaths a year in nonsmokers."

·Should all Americans have the right to smoke wherever they wish, or should the public be protected from cigarette smoke?
·Do you know anyone who has been harmed by secondhand smoke?

Myth #3: I'm not hooked.

"It's not that hard to stop."
"I won't be smoking 5 years from now."

·Do you agree that most young smokers start out thinking they can quit whenever they want to? Why?
·Do you know any smokers who thought that they could stop but couldn't? Why?

Myth #4: Sure I smoke, but at least I don't do drugs, have unsafe sex, or get drunk.

"Cigarettes cause more deaths than AIDS, illegal drugs, car crashes, homicides, and suicides combined."

·Why do you think many people believe that cigarette smoking is safer than other risky types of behavior?

Myth #5: It's better to smoke; if I quit, I'll get fat.

"What's a few pounds compared with bad breath, smelly clothes, yellow teeth and nails, brittle skin, wasted money, and bad health?"

·Do you think quitting smoking is worthwhile even if it means gaining a few pounds? Why?
·Can you think of examples of how cigarette companies have promoted cigarette smoking as a glamorous symbol of freedom and independence and thinness for women? Do you think this strategy has been effective? Why?

Myth #6: I smoke light cigarettes, so I won't get hurt as much.

"Light cigarettes are safer."
"I switched to light cigarettes, but I just smoked more because there was less nicotine."

·Why do you think tobacco companies developed light cigarettes? Why do people buy them?
·Do you think light cigarettes help people cut down on the amount of nicotine they're getting? Do you think that they are safer? Why?

Myth #7: I've tried to quit, but I can't.

"When you quit smoking, you take control, not the cigarette."
"It's your body and your life. Don't give up giving up."

·Why do you think many people are reluctant to try to quit smoking even though they want to stop?
·Many people who quit say that it's both the best and the hardest thing they've ever done. Do you think that quitting is worth the pain? Why?

Answers to Previewing Questions: All true.

IV. Next Steps

For community advocates: You may want to follow-up the video presentation with community-based tobacco education activities or media interventions. Examples are included in the sections that follow.

For audience members who smoke: Discuss what additional resources the smokers in your audience will need to quit. Offer cessation tips, quit-line numbers, self-help materials, Web site addresses, and other community resources. Invite former smokers to give their own testimonials, especially hopeful stories about what quitting did for them and their families. Have smokers develop a plan by seeing their doctor, finding a quit buddy, arranging rewards for themselves, or picking a quit date. See the "Help With Quitting" section of this toolkit for more tips and information.

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Video Posttest

Please answer the following questions related to the video. Check all answers that apply. When you check multiple responses, please rank them (1 = most important). If you do not smoke, please check here ___ and skip all questions except #6.

1. As a smoker, how did the video make you feel about smoking?

2. Were you thinking about quitting smoking before you saw the video?

3. Did the video help you decide to quit in the next 30 days?

4. If you answered "yes" to Question 3, what information in the video helped you make a decision to quit? Check all that apply.

5. What would be helpful to you when you decide to quit? (Check all that apply.)

6. What myth(s) provided new information to you about the effects of smoking?

7. Do you feel more confident in your ability to quit smoking now than before?

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This page last reviewed October 13, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Office on Smoking and Health