Background: Smoke Screening is a youth advocacy group which grew from a Smoking in Movies competition held by The Cancer Council NSW in 2005. The intention of forming the group was to bring together young people (under the age of 25) interested in taking action against the promotion of smoking in popular culture such as in movies, by bands, in nightclubs, at music events etc.

Strategy: The group has over 150 members with a core Committee of 4 who regularly participate in advocacy activity and take leadership decisions on the direction and future of the group. It produces a bi-monthly newsletter for members to keep them up-to-date with relevant, current issues and activities the group has been involved with, for example submitting a short film in the NSW National Youth week competition, and conducting media interviews about their view on smoking in movies.

In 2006, a former Executive Committee member of the US anti-tobacco group “Target Market” worked with The Cancer Council to review the Smoke Screening group. Youth tobacco control advocacy groups have been successful in the US at raising awareness of tobacco issues and shaping the tobacco control environment and we were keen to learn from her experience.

Conclusion: In light of her resulting recommendations, the group is moving to a more formalised organisational structure and developing a website to facilitate easier communication. The greatest challenge is to keep current members engaged but not overload them with activity as the group expands activity and scope.