The Cut: Class Two

Class 2
'Three Class Period' Structure

Prior to the beginning of this session, ask the students who, last session indicated that they knew adult smokers, if they had interviewed the adults and will share the adult's answers with the class.

Follow up: Smoker Interview [5 minutes]
Share adult smoker interviews with the class and discuss the answers the adults gave to the questions.
Comment to the class: "Most teens begin smoking because they believe it is a way to be 'more adult' but most adults would give anything to be able to quit."

Ask if any students know what the term, 'hindsight,' means. If necessary, define it. Ask the students why people say that 'hindsight is 20/20.' Ask: "What kinds of things do you think you will remember about your middle school years when you are an adult? Do you think you might make some decision during your teen years that you will regret when you are an adult? What area might you have a regret about later: friends you choose, habits you pick up, things you say to do?" This line of questioning might not yield any response from your students, however, it is important to present these questions for their consideration.)
Discussion: Mind Over Media [10 minutes]
Inform students that you will now discuss the 'marketing tactics of tobacco companies.' (Remind them that during the last session you discussed whether tobacco companies knew about and tried to take advantage of the fact that people are more susceptible to negative influence during the teen years.) Present these facts. (Have students click on the Marketing to Teens link on their student page to read these facts along with you.) You will have to define and explain some of the terms in these quotes.

Tell students that tobacco is one of the most additive substances humans ingest and that once someone starts smoking, it is very difficult to stop. In fact, many people are never able to stop smoking until the day they die. Nicotine is addictive enough, but the tobacco companies add ammonia to cigarettes (that stuff you clean the floor with) which makes the nicotine even more powerful. Then relay these facts: 70% of smokers want to quit only 5% succeed every year. Tobacco companies make billions a year feeding an addiction they that help create.

Brainstorm with your students: Ask them to put themselves in the place of a tobacco executive. How might they get teens to smoke that first cigarette. Encourage them to use their first hand knowledge of what appeals to kids to devise an approach that would get lots of kids to smoke a first cigarette. If participation allows, turn this discussion into a brainstorming session similar to those advertising executives might hold before marketing a product.
Discussion: Market a Poison [20 minutes]
Create two columns on the board (see chart) or have students click on the Marketing a Poison link on their student page. Ask students to take each item from column one and, using any of the approaches from column two, create a marketing scheme for that product. You can start the activity off by suggesting that you could probably convince some teens that battery acid is cool to drink if you gave a free poster away with every six pack.

After students come up with few ideas ask them how they would conceal the health dangers of their products? For example you would pay athletes to pose with a bottle of your battery acid drink and give it a name like, "Jump Start."

For every marketing scheme the class comes up with, ask "What type of teen would this type of approach appeal to?" You can develop this further: "What kind of excuse would that teen use when asked why he continues to use a product that's bad for him?"

Note: If your school supports interdisciplinary teaching units you can involve the visual arts or language arts teachers in this part of the project. (Content created by students as part of this program may be submitted to us for inclusion in our next version of the CD ROM game. The student author, class and school will be credited for each included work. All student authors will also receive complementary copies of the CD ROM for their portfolios. Follow links below for details.)
- See Market a Poison visual arts project
- See Market a Poison language arts project
Activity: Play The Cut™ CD ROM Game [20 minutes]
Have students use their headphones. Remind them to only double click ONCE on the game icon. (If they double click multiple times they will open multiple copies of the game and slow down their machines dramatically.)

If any of your students reached the ship during the first play of the game (last class) they may choose one or more of the following options (available from the list of links on their student page):
- Play The Cut™ again but this time focus on dispatching all the Poseurs on the first level
- Do the Pretty Slick Activity (Shockwave, 630k)
- Play Catchin' Air Game (Shockwave, 400k)
- Begin either of the Market a Poison activities linked from above
Students may also choose to visit the ShardsO'Galss Web site (a parody of tobacco marketing tactics created by the American Legacy Foundation).
Discussion: Dealing with Moments of Weakness [5 minutes]
Refer to the 'character chart' the class created during the last session. Suggest that most everyone shows signs of character weaknesses at some time. It is usually when they feel 'left out.' Ask students why they think they won't fall for advertising schemes during these 'weak moments.' Give them an example: "You are feeling low in the 'self confidence' department and kind of 'left out.' You pick up a magazine called Night Life. It has a photo spread on every page featuring the hottest party spots in your city. You glance over the laughing faces, see people getting close and dancing, see bands jamming in the background...and everyone happens to have a cigarette in their hand or a Camel pack on the table. In your moment of weakness would you wish you could be one of those partygoers or would you realize that this magazine is just a set up created by the cigarette company?" (Tell them that you are describing an actual "urban party" magazine created by Camel.)

Tell the students that one of the most successful tactics used by tobacco companies is to give the impression (through ads and by paying actors to smoke in movies) that many people smoke and enjoy doing it. The fact is that fewer and fewer adults smoke and most wish they had never started.

Ask: "What are some good things you can do to help you feel better about yourself during moments of weakness?" List these on the board. Keep this list for next class.

Reminder: Bring or have a student bring a hacky sack next class for the Inside/ Outside activity. Also, create an alphabetical list of the last names of all the students in the class.

Go to Class 3