Press Release 06/09/10

06/09/2010 11:23:38

Cut Films launches a creative new way to help young people say no to smoking

National anti-smoking charity The Deborah Hutton Campaign has just launched its Cut Films competition, challenging young people to make a short creative film about ‘why smoking isn’t cool’. 

This national launch of the Cut Films competition follows a successful pilot in nine schools and one youth club last Autumn, and has already attracted widespread support, including from national charity, No Smoking Day and their celebrity ambassador, the multi-platinum, chart-topping singer Lemar.

The innovative Cut Films competition encourages young people to research, write and produce a short film about the dangers of smoking using a simple camcorder or mobile phone. It also enables them to upload and share their films with other young people online, using popular social media sites such as You Tube and Facebook.

Lucinda Shaw, Campaign Director explains, “I think that the really unique thing about Cut Films, what makes it really popular with young people, is that this isn’t just a bunch of adults lecturing them or telling them not to smoke - it’s about young people themselves getting together, getting creative and getting their views on smoking out there.”    

Running in conjunction with schools and youth clubs nationwide, the competition is now open for entries. Winning films will be announced on No Smoking Day, which is Wednesday 9th March, 2011, and premiered at an exclusive Awards Ceremony in London. 

The Cut Films competition is simple to take part in and can be run within school curriculum as part of a range of Key Stage 3 core subjects, or as part of GCSE/BTEC media studies courses. It can also be delivered as an extra-curricular activity in schools and youth clubs or young people can do it in their own time.  Further information about taking part is available on the Cut Films website at: www.cutfilms.org.

The Cut Films competition has roots in very personal events. It was set up after Deborah Hutton, who was health editor of Vogue fashion magazine for more than twenty years, died of lung cancer, aged 49, as a result of smoking in her teens and twenties. Her husband, Charlie Stebbings, a leading UK film director, and eldest daughter, are now spearheading Cut Films to help ensure that her important message encouraging young people not to start smoking lives on.

In England today, there are over 2 million fewer adult smokers than there were a decade ago, but it is estimated that around 250,000 more people in England will start smoking this year. The majority of these will be under the age of 18.

Charlie Stebbings, Founding Trustee of the Deborah Hutton Campaign explains his vision behind the project; “There are still too many teenagers starting smoking and getting addicted, and we know that young people listen to their friends far more than they listen to their parents, teachers or other adults around them.

“Through Cut Films, I want to give them an opportunity to explore all of the issues around smoking – from the obvious health implications, to things they might not have considered before like the cost of cigarettes or the ethics around passive smoking - and to provide a platform for them to create messages that they think will stop other young people from smoking.”   

An evaluation of the pilot phase of Cut Films has already been published, highlighting a number of positive outcomes. Teachers and youth workers involved in the pilot said it provided them with a flexible resource, and that participation in the project promoted a high level of engagement from young people, including those deemed to be disaffected and most at risk of smoking. Some young participants who were reportedly non smokers also suggested that the film making process  may help persuade them not to take up smoking.

 

The timely launch of Cut Films also supports the Department of Health’s Tobacco Control Strategy published in February 2010, which outlines the need ‘to stop the inflow of young people recruited as smokers’ as the first of its three key objectives, offering a creative, fun initiative which empowers young people to choose a smokefree future, and to encourage their peers to do the same.

 

Further information about Cut Films and full details about how to take part in the competition are now available online at: www.cutfilms.org.

ENDS

 

Notes to Editor

For more information about this story, please contact PR Manager for Cut Films, Anna Beaumont / email: anna.beaumont@icegroupuk.com / tel: 0151 647 4700

Alternatively, please contact Laura Luxton or Vishnee Sauntoo at the No Smoking Day Press Office / email: press@nosmokingday.org.uk / tel: 020 7739 5110

 

  • The Deborah Hutton Campaign is a registered charity working in tandem with existing government and charitable initiatives to reduce the prevalence of smoking among young people. Its Cut Films initiative closely supports the first objective outlined within the Department of Health’s recent Tobacco Control Strategy for England by positively engaging with young people on the issue of smoking through creative communication. Visit: www.thedeborahhuttoncampaign.org

 

 

  • No Smoking Day is a national charity that runs the highly successful annual health campaign helping smokers who want to quit.  Now in its 28th year, the campaign’s mission is to inspire as many smokers as possible to break free from the chains of their addiction and take control of their health and looks. Nearly three quarters of a million smokers in the UK kicked the habit on this year’s No Smoking Day – 10th 2010. The charity has also recently launched WeQuit – a Facebook application to help people quit. Visit: www.wequit.co.uk/facebook or www.nosmokingday.org.uk

 

Supporting Information on Smoking

  • In England today, there are over 2 million fewer adult smokers than there were a decade ago, but smoking still causes over 80,000 deaths every year, and is still the leading cause of health inequalities. Over 8 million people in England smoke; half of them may be expected to die prematurely from smoking.

 

  • This year alone, it is estimated that around 250,000 people in England will start smoking and the majority of these will be under the age of 18.

 

  • According to ASH UK (Action on Smoking and Health), 1 in 7 15 year olds regularly smoke and 2 out of every 3 smokers begin the habit before the age of 18.

 

  • Although the proportion of young people aged 11-15 who smoke has fallen over the last ten years, in 2008 it was reported that approximately 6% smoked. At age 11 the prevalence of smoking was less than 0.5% but by age 15 the proportion who reported smoking at least once a week had risen to one in seven (14%) and around a third of pupils had tried smoking at least once.

 

  • The prevalence of regular smokers aged 11- 15 varies by region from 5% in London to 10% in the North East, and is the leading cause of health equalities in England.

 

  • The annual cost to the NHS from smoking-related diseases is £2.7 billion.

 

  • The Tobacco Control Strategy for England, ‘A Smokefree Future’, published by the Department of Health on 1st February, 2010, outlined a vision of a smokefree future where communities are free from the harms of tobacco use and where people lead healthier and longer lives, with a focus on achieving the following three objectives:

 

  1. To stop the inflow of young people recruited as smokers.
  2. To motivate and assist every smoker to quit.
  3. To protect families and communities from tobacco-related harm.

 

  • The Deborah Hutton Campaign is a member of the Smokefree Action Coalition and is committed to defending the Health Act 2009 including bans on tobacco product displays and vending machines:
  1. A government that cares about public health can’t allow  itself  to cave in to pressure  from  those who manufacture and sell cigarettes
  2. Point of sale promotion is the main form of tobacco advertising not only where tobacco advertising is banned as it is here but even where it is permitted as in the US.
  3. Point of sale displays encourage youth smoking by giving the false impression that smoking is widespread and that tobacco products are only an arm’s reach away.
  4. We need a point of sale display ban as part of a comprehensive programme to reduce youth smoking and protect young people from tobacco industry marketing.