The Deborah Hutton Campaign, a new charity set up to tackle teenage smoking rates, today launched its website designed by social marketing agency, ICE. Using its youth-facing brand, Cut Films, The Deborah Hutton Campaign intends to run an annual competition in schools and youth clubs to get young people making films for their peers about not smoking. The films will be distributed widely on sites such as You Tube and Facebook. Ten schools and a youth club are taking part in a pilot this autumn and prizes for the winning schools will be awarded at an awards and fundraising event in early 2010.
“This is an auspicious day for us as we share our vision of how we can make a difference and help reduce the number of young people who smoke” said founding Trustee and leading film director, Charlie Stebbings. “The number of people who smoke has come down over the years, but there are still too many teenagers getting addicted. I want to give young people a voice and find out what they think the messages should be that will stop their friends from smoking.”
Charlie Stebbings set up the Campaign after losing his wife, Deborah Hutton, to lung cancer four years ago. Deborah Hutton, who was Health Editor of Vogue for twenty-five years, smoked as a teenager, but gave up in her early twenties. Passionate about the collaborative process of film-making as well as the opportunities that new media offer, Charlie and his fellow Trustees are committed to using the charity’s limited resources to greatest effect to reach young people
“We’re going to evaluate the pilot in order to test the competition, its impact and to get feedback from young people,” says Charlie. ‘When we roll the competition out nationally next year we need to know that we’ve got the tone right and that it’s something young people can relate to - and will want to get involved with.”
For more information please contact:
Lucinda Shaw
Director
The Deborah Hutton Campaign
020 7700 3701
07714 082270