British American Tobacco Annual Meeting

GYAT members from the U.S. and Nigeria collaborated with Action on Smoking or Health (London) and members of the England-based groups D-Myst and ATYC to organize multiple youth advocacy events around the meeting, including an advocacy training and a rally outside the meeting itself. GYAT members from India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sudan, Tanzania, Vietnam also provided valuable information for ASH’s report “You’ve got to be kidding” which details how the company is targeting worldwide and was released on the day of the meeting. In response to the report and irrefutable evidence that BAT promotes single sales of cigarettes in Nigerian that one of the Nigerian youth advocates presented to a BAT executive, the company has acknowledged violating its own marketing code of conduct. ASH has also been inspired to seek funding to establish a youth advocacy program in England. For more information see ASH’s press releases about the meeting (available at www.ash.org.uk) and a video created by Ken Dahlgren:

Altria Shareholders Meeting

Over 100 youth advocates from 13 different U.S. states and Indonesia, including numerous GYAT members, organized advocacy events around the Altria meeting, including a one-day training, a rally outside of the meeting, statements inside the meeting, and a rally outside the company’s headquarters in New York City. They exposed how the company continues to target youth in the U.S. and around the world and echoed a global call to “quarantine” the company to prevent it from further poisoning another generation. Voice of America Indonesia (television, radio, web) covered the events extensively. For more information, see examples of Altria/Philip Morris promotions worldwide, including those collected by GYAT members based in Argentina, Indonesia, and the UK, and the full report on the activities.

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Or see a high resolution version of it here. here (You need Quicktime 7 to view.)