Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Kick Butts Day - Tobacco Town Hall Photo Gallery

ACT-UP students at Luther Burbank High School took photos of tobacco in their community. Each photo is captioned with a description, what it tells us about our community, and opportunities for change. Students shared their photos and captions at a Tobacco Town Hall event on March 19th, 2014. #KickButtsDay #PhotoVoice #LBHS


Alex Vang
The photo has liquor and packs of cigarettes in the back of the counter. The brands of cigarettes are Newport and Marlboro. The liquor and cigarettes are sitting in a shelf waiting to be bought by people who smoke or drink. I took this photo because these types of advertisements are present in gas stations around our community. This photo tells us that stores in this community are strongly advertising cigarettes and are trying to get youth to buy these products. This photo provides us an opportunity to improve life in the community because if we are aware of how smoking is advertised, we can change it.


Alyssa Vang
This picture is a picture of a vape store trying to sell electronic cigarettes. Showing this to the community shows that they aren’t as dangerous as a real cigarette. But it still shows the influence of smoking at a young age. Referring to the title, they imitated the title for the movie “Planet of the Apes”. A movie loved by many children and adults. I took a photo of this because the store is within our community and also around other stores that citizens shop at. Having the store here can influence others to buy e-cigarettes. The picture shows us that our community is influenced by shows and showing that whatever told that place to sell the e-cigarettes want to gain money not caring about other’s health. Even though they know that smoking is hard to stop, they believe that e-cigarettes are an easier, healthier way to stop the addiction. What the citizens don’t realize is that they are wasting a lot of money because each time they run out of the flavor they are going to have to buy more. Instead of using the money to buy more flavors for the vape, they could use that money for health insurance. This picture provides the opportunity for us to improve the community because having this picture can cause others to realize how bad it actually is so that there’s someone there to end the life of e-cigarettes and smoking.

Andy Lor
In this photo a man is selling vapors at the front counter in the store. The vapors can be seen by every customer, regardless of age, that comes to the front counter to check out. I took a picture of this because it shows that vapors are in stores and that kids can easily see them and purchase them. This photo tells us that vapors are being sold in our community and that they are easily accessible to anyone. The vapors should be moved to a different part of the store where kids are not able to see them or purchase them.

Anna Xiong
Blu is an e-cigarette sold where the cash register is placed. The register is surrounded by a lot of different kinds of cigarettes. The store and company is advertising to all ages, either young or old. The e-cigarette and cigarettes are placed low enough for all ages to see. Blu claims that they benefit addicted smokers, but it is no different from smoking a regular cigarette. Many people do not care about how much advertising cigarettes can affect the kids. We should remove the e-cigarettes and cigarettes from stores where kids can easily see them.

Austin Lor
In this photo, a used cigarette has been left out on the wooden boardwalk. The cigarette is barely used and is slowly burning away. I took this picture because I saw the lingering smoke and the potential for a fire to start due to someone’s carelessness. It tells me that people in the community are wasteful even they are damaging themselves. This picture is inspiration to improve life in the community by showing smokers that it is dangerous to the environment to be careless with lit cigarettes.

Courtney James
This photo displays advertisements of drugs and energy drinks such as: cigarettes, Red Bulls, and swishers. I chose to take this photo because although it shows “food”, the majority of the items sold are drugs. It makes the community look like it only cares about money and not health. More healthy signs should be in the store window compared to the drug advertisements.

David Vang, Mark Thor
In this photo, the shelf is full of cigarettes and lighters. Underneath the cigarettes there is a shelf full of candy. The store owners are advertising cigarettes along with candy to young children. Although the cigarettes and candy are not that close, it is still close enough for any customer who is buying candy to see it. I took this picture because it shows that the store owner is trying to get youth to buy the cigarettes. It tells me that our community is not good because they have the option of putting the cigarettes somewhere else in the store, but they still decide to put it near the candy. This gives us the opportunity to take a stand against advertising tobacco to youth. We could tell store owners that they are not allowed to sell tobacco in the same area that they sell candy.

Dejion Sparks
This is a photo of a small store near a Check and Cash place. It has too many tobacco products. It is easy for a child to reach on the counter. I took this picture because when kids buy candy or a Slim Jim, they will see the tobacco and they might be encouraged to try it some time. This tells me that they should keep all the tobacco stuff behind the counter and not on it. Also, it tells me that this is not a good store to be going to

Ellison Thao
This is the story of Bob and the missing cigarette. One day Bob and his family had a religious ceremony for good luck. The Elders handed out one cigarette to everyone. Bob and his girlfriend took one. Then later on that day he was with his girlfriend at the house and they made a promise to each other never to smoke it not matter how hard life gets. Then they placed both of the cigaretts in a box. Many years later, he got into a fight with his girlfriend. When he went home alone, he sat down and looked at the cigarettes. Then he took her cigarette and smoked it. The next morning he gets a call, his girlfriend called him back and apologized. They were so happy. Then a few months later Bob's girlfriend went and looked at the cigarette. She then went to check up on Bob and there he was, lying pale as a ghost with an empty box of cigarettes. Bob had fallen into a coma and woke up a week later. When he woke up his girlfriend was sitting there with her cigarette in her hand. She gave her cigarette to Bob and told him "Here, I’ll be your second chance". Bob kept that cigarette untouched for the rest of their lives.
The moral of my story is don't take the chance to smoke even if you have it and smoking can hurt not only you but the people around you. Bob got addicted smoked his life away, but luckily got a second chance, not many people do though.

Evan Xiong
This is a picture of a flavored cigar box that was left around lying near a tree in front of an elementary school and playground. Every day, kids are being exposed to the influence of bad habits such as smoking and drinking, either from movies, TV shows, or even at their own school, like this one. I felt both the cigar and the school created a strong opposing force against each other that gives off a strong message about being cautious to where our children are attending school. This small box can affect a small child's life just by them looking at it and picking it up. The fact that the box shows "99 cents" and "Sweet" labeled on it tricks the young minds of children, making them think of it as a type of candy. This small box can ruin a child's life. After taking the picture and walking a bit farther into the school I found more cigar boxes and ended up throwing them away. I know I live in an unsafe and bad community, but when I actually came out to visually see and feel the outside environment I realized it was worse than I had thought. A way to prevent this from happening again would to post big signs where smoking is not permitted. The sign could read “Children Present” and it could be present in every school reminding smokers that this is not a place they should light up.

Jeremy Vang
This picture shows that people are smoking and littering cigarettes at light rail stations such as the Florin Light Rail. On November 2013, they passed a policy to ban smoking at all bus stops and light rail stations. This picture is evidence that people do not care about this rule. It shows that many people are ignoring this policy and are still smoking at some stations. To make it worse, they even litter their cigarettes on the light rail tracks. To some people, this could mean that smoking is popular and they should try it. To others, they might think that since some people are ignoring this policy, they can ignore it too. To add to this problem, the cigarette litter could build up. Some people don’t care about dirty, unfinished cigarette butts on the tracks and might try to use the cigarette. The cigarette litter can cause an unhealthy environment for youth. By taking this picture, I wanted to show people that problems like this are causing us to have an unstable environmental system in our community and that we should make a difference. By putting up better security cameras at transportation stations and by banning smoking to certain areas, only we can make things better for you, your kids and your family.

Jeremy Xiong
A Marlboro cigarette pack and cigarette is left out and littered at the park where youth can easily see it. Tobacco products are being littered in public, especially at the park. I took this photo because it disturbs me to see how careless people are when it comes to smoking. All they think about is themselves when they should be a better influence to the youth that play at the park. This tells us that people aren’t careful enough about what they do with their cigarettes and that they don’t dispose of it in a beneficial way. This photo provides an opportunity for us to make a difference by telling us that parks should be more clean and cleansed of any drug use. We should go out into our community to clear parks of any cigarettes and also have a guard patrol to catch and punish those who would go against the rules of smoking in parks to improve the safety of kids and everyone.

Kevin Yang
This is a photo of a lighter settled next to a bunch of candies. This lighter can be easily seen and grabbed by children. The kids might even be able to light the lighter. I took a photo of this because it promotes the idea of smoking to children. This photo tells me that the community is trying to get children to smoke. The community should not encourage children to have lighters and should take them away from any young children that do have them.

Mike and Cheng
There are many types of swisher sweets. The flavors are: sour apple, raspberry, champagne, hot chocolate, and cherry. They all cost 99 cents for 3 which is very cheap. I took a picture of this because I know that these products are a bad influence on young children. For example, if a kid had $1 then they would buy the swisher sweets because with that $1 they could by 3 swisher sweets and not just one candy bar. This photo helps our community because it can show use what happens with the swisher at a cheap price.

Myra Vang
This photo shows that cigarette ads are posted all around the store and kids can easily see them. The store is advertising the tobacco products to the public and kids can clearly see these advertisements as well. I took a picture of this because there are even discount posters for cigarettes and these discounts make the cigarettes seem more desirable to youth. This picture tells us that some people encourage smoking and they are trying to get more buyers. By removing these advertisements and discounts we could lower tobacco sales and even prevent young children from seeing the ads and becoming influenced.


Nancy Cha
The boxes in this photo are the flavors for e-cigarettes. This image was found as an advertisement on social websites I visit. Looking at this makes me think of candy. I am 15 years old and this has got my attention because it has cherry crush, cool menthol, very vanilla, classic tobacco, coffee creative and peppermint party “flavors.” This is aimed at teenagers because it holds child-like flavors and colors. It irritates me because if it was able to grab my attention, it will be able to grab other teenagers’ attention too. When I look at this picture, it reminds me of candy because of the flavor names. Sacramento placed the 2nd in California for stores that sell e-cigarettes. Many teenagers will be able to see and learn about e-cigarettes because Sacramento stores are selling so many of them. An opportunity we can use to decrease this is to ban the sale of e-cigarettes in certain areas where there is an abundance of younger children and underage youth.


Nhi Doan
This is the picture I took in Rite Aid Store. The tobacco was a little bit harder to find but it is located between the technology systems. So, I guess teenagers can see it easily if they want to find some technology stuff. In the addition, since the cashier’s stand is right in front of the tobacco, it makes people like it more because they can save their time on checkout section. They should put the tobacco in a different place so they kids can’t see it.


Pa Lee
This photo depicts the different types of toys sold to children. Not only are “toys” being sold, but they also are selling fake cigarettes that children can pretend to smoke with. I took this photo because it highlights tobacco in a different context compared to others. Not only is it just a toy, it also brings this idea of "I'm cool if I smoke." I was shocked to find this out because I didn't know they would attack kids this young. I think it's rather selfish to attack the youth with tobacco use. This picture tells us that, no matter the age, the tobacco company will come after you. But it also tells us that our community is not our side, it's on the bad side because they are advertising for tobacco companies. Kid looks up to us and if they see something and it's somewhat cool, they're going do it, so instead of advertising tobacco we should advertise about eating healthy and that healthful living is the "coolest" thing ever. As a member of my community, I think we should make appropriate toys for young children such as: a fake apple, or toy vegetable set or even a toy garden. This is a good way to introduce healthy living to the little ones.


Phuong Nguyen
Here is a shop which has only cigarette posters, and the weird thing is that these posters are placed only at the bottom. The only reason these advertisements are placed at the bottom of the window it to attract young children. In order to replace they dying smokers, cigarette companies target young children. In order to change, these cigarettes should be placed somewhere higher, where toddlers and small children cannot see them. We, as influencers, should encourage shops to relocate or replace these advertisements.


Sheng Thao
This is a photo of flavored cigarettes, e-cigarettes and cigarettes advertisements on a monument sign of gas prices. Not only can adults see these advertisements, but younger kids under the age of 18 can see them as well. The pictures of the cigarettes should not be on the outside of the store for everyone to see. I took a picture of this because it shows how bad the advertising for tobacco is and how kids can easily see these advertisements and be influenced to by tobacco products. It tells us that store owners will do anything they can to sell the tobacco products to make a profit. It gives us an opportunity to take a stand against tobacco advertising in the community to protect youth from being influenced.


Teresa Vang
Here outside of an Asian store, a used cigarette is left on a window place where little kids could see and reach. This is dangerous especially for kids and animals because it gives them easier access to tobacco and could be a health hazard if it is consumed. There should be more signs and trash cans to throw away waste to help keep our community clean and healthy.


Thien-Y Huynh
Posters about cigarette over most of the window space where kids can easily see it. They even have discount cigarette posters right above the store’s sign. Because of these posters, kids are more likely to buy cigarettes and try them out because they are so cheap. In my opinion, I think they should take off the discount sign and posters. They should just leave one out of the three posters in the window so the cigarettes are not advertised as much.


Tommy Smith
In the photo you see a non-smoking sign in the window screen. Behind the window, there are a lot of tobacco products as well as liquor products. Basically, the government is telling us one message which is to “Not Smoke”, but the store is telling us that we should be smoking and we should buy their tobacco products. I chose to take this picture because it shows how store owners use the non-smoking sign as an excuse to abide by the law when in reality they are selling these addictive products to smokers every day. It sells us that store owners will do whatever they can to make money, even if that means advertising tobacco products in public places where children, teens and adults can see. It gives us a means of going to the people in a higher authority and telling them that they used to remove the tobacco product form the public eye. We need to remove the advertisements so that children walking up to a gas station won’t have cigarettes be the first thing that they see. Basically, we need to remove the temptation.


Valerie Xiong
This is a picture of a donut shop which is next to a shop full of liquor and food. Kids and teens like to go into the donut shop to buy treats. I took a picture of this because kids, out of curiosity, may walk into the liquor store and become influenced. This tells me that my community does not consider the possible scenarios that would happen. One look at this photo should motivate adults into taking action and prevent innocent children from becoming victims.


Vilai Yang
This is the place where I work at. This area is a very poor place. It is rare to see a wealthy person here. At the corner over there is a “Dollar Tree.” Only poor people go shopping there. I work there and you can smell the cigarettes all the way to my shop. Most importantly is that I see kids walking around there every day. Not to mention, the cigarettes in that shop are very cheap. As you can see in this photo there are more cars at the cigarette store than at the Dollar Tree.


Yer Chang
In this photo, there is a cigarette that is inside a skull’s mouth. The cigarette is lit giving the idea that the skull is smoking. I took a photo of this because it describes how some people spend their lifetimes smoking and some of them even die from it. This picture shows that there are a lot of people in the community that are smoking for fun, or addicted to smoking. This picture provides the opportunity to tell people that if they stop smoking, or try control their smoking habit, then they will be able to live longer and healthier lives.   





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