March 13, 2003: Thursday, March 13, 2003: The following summary of responses from youth from India who saw TEEN SMOKERS SPEAK OUT is shown below I had given the video to Gujarat Council For Education Research & Training (GCERT). They were pleased with the video and showed it to school children aged 16 i.e 11th grade. 102 students were shown the cassette in a school in Gandhinagar, the capital city of my state Gujarat. Their response is as follows 1. What is this video about? All knew about the video 2. What did you like most about this video? No response : 7 Message is loud and clear : One should stop smoking : 95 3. What did you like least? No response : 40 Voice and resolution not good : 4 Small children using cigarettes : 3 Diseases caused by smoking : 55 (as I had commented previously, students did not like the idea in the first place such young teens use tobacco and that they did not like; also the diseases caused by smoking were pretty much disgusting for them....) 4. Do you have friends, parents or brothers or sisters who smoke? Friends Yes :11 Parents : 1 Brother : 2 Relatives ;: 12 None : 76 (!!!! pretty high and impressive isn't it ?) 5. Why are cigarettes bad for you if you want to play sports? No response : 5 Rest all : Because it causes problems in lungs and health 6. Did the teens in the video enjoy smoking cigarettes? Yes : 22 No : 3 No response : 77 (looks like they have not understood the question properly). 7. What do you think it would be some good reasons to avoid smoking cigarettes? No : 17 Rest : again they have not understood the meaning of the question as 84 students have responded by writing Yes smoking should be avoided !! they haven't given the reasons though. 8. What else did you learn from watching the video? Smoking is injurious to health : 14 No answer : 8 Should not smoke : 80 9. Do you think other friends of yours would like to see the video? No response : Rest all : Yes 10. Who showed the video to you? GCERT 11. What is your age? 15 years : 6 16 years : 51 17 years : 32 18 years : 11 The second group of 83 students are from a school in Bhuj the site of the disastrous earthquake in my state in 2001. Their response will be mailed later on.

August 1, 2002 E-mail:

this is Jaime and I am responding to ur letter. I am a 16-year-old myself and and confronted by peer pressure often and I feel that maybe they just need a reality check. I feel that one of the reasons "people" my age start smoking is bc they don't have a clue as of what it does to a person. I do....and everytime someone asks me I always give them the same answer...."NO"...I see what it has done to my grandma and many of her friends and it tears me up inside and out, to know that some people just don't care. So, personally, I think they need for it to hit home, for them to receive a reality check to the dangers and causes of smoking. I also want u and everyone who receives this email to know that whatever I can do to help....just let me know bc I personally would be more than happy to help to increase of teenage smoking turn into a decrease. Sincerely and all my love , Jaime Snyder

March 21, 2002

We have recently received the following review of "TEEN SMOKERS SPEAK OUT" video from a 13 year old girl:

Minor

Audio was poor is some places
Some places had poor visual

Major

Very good choice of teens (some from each walk of life)
Very good host (blonde female)
Teens will listen to other teens better than to grown-ups so this video was good in that sense. Teens will think about what it would be like to have problems breathing at young age just because they smoke.
A big asset to the video would be to interview kids who think smokers are losers. Like a girl saying they wouldn't go out with guys that smoke, a guy that says girls look trashy if they smoke, etc. Kids are VERY concerned about what other kids think about them. That's the MOST important thing to them because they really don't worry about getting sick from smoking.
However, they do get concerned if they can't do sports or cheerleading anymore because they get too breathless. Kids also care about how they smell. If someone said they stunk because of the smoke, that would hurt them badly.
Overall, I rate the the video a 6-7 (1-10). If interviews of kids who don't like to be around smokers were added, I'd place video at a 9-10.

December 10, 2001

There were 24 questionnaires after the video was shown to mostly teens 11-19 years old. There were only five pre-teens; one 11, four 12 years-old. The one 19 year-old did not like the tape at all. The five pre-teens all answered the questions with a sentence or two and all felt their friends would like to see the video. The older teens used more one-word answers and were more critical of the presentation. It is clear from this batch that pre-teens are the most receptive to the message in this video.

2. What did you like most about this video?
18 - The message: how it told kids not to smoke
6 - Nothing

4. Do you have friends, parents or brothers or sisters who smoke?
      16 - Yes
        7 - No
        1 - I smoke too

8. What else did you learn from watching the video?
      17 - Don’t smoke
        3 - Other - expectable
        2 - Nothing
        1 - Don’t have sex
        1 - Get fixed up before getting in front of the camera

9. Do you think other friends of yours would like to see the video?
      11 - Yes
        9 - No
        4 - Don’t know

11. What is your age?
        5 - pre-teens (12 year-olds)
        4 - 13
        4 -14
        2 - 15
        3 - 16
        4 - 17
        1 - 18
        1 - 19

October 17, 2001:

Sarah and Isabel (both aged 9) just finished viewing the video and they were riveted. Isabel wants to bring it to her brother, who is in 6th grade, and I am going to try to convince Sarah's teacher to show it to all the fourth graders in her school.

They did not know about all the breathing problems, the disgusting mucus, the inability to do sports and the costs. They wanted to calculate $80 a month right away for 3 years and figured out it was $2,880!

They were not as impressed by the dating issue but I am sure that will mean more when they go to middle school next year.

They really liked the tape and were not at all critical of any technical flaws.