Get the latest facts and analyses on the most important issues related to smoking, vaping, nicotine and substance use.
We use provocative, creative, and innovative approaches to influence culture, inspire youth and young adults, and initiate action. All grounded in research. All to prevent youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empower quitting for all.
We expose the truth about smoking, vaping and nicotine with our national counter-marketing campaign, the longest-running and most successful national tobacco prevention campaign for youth and young adults. truth delivers the facts about the health effects and social consequences of smoking, vaping and nicotine use and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry so that young people can make informed choices and influence others to do the same. Developed from extensive formative research, the campaign goes toe-to-toe with an industry that spends more than $9 billion each year to market tobacco products in the U.S. We are David to Big Tobacco's Goliath.
Our brand is ubiquitous in youth culture. Online and in-person, we take on the tobacco industry and expose the truth about its products. Whether it is through provocative videos, creative digital and social channels, signature truth-branded merchandise or our presence at popular music and sports events with iconic “truth trucks,” we connect with youth and young adults through the venues they understand and trust.
The truth works. We know that truth has prevented millions of young people from becoming smokers and helped drive down the youth smoking rate from nearly 23% in 2000 to around 2% today.
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In 2018, after nearly a year of formative work, Truth Initiative launched the public education truth prevention campaign, The Truth About Opioids, in partnership with the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Ad Council. The campaign is designed to help young people understand the dangers of opioid misuse and addiction and the role they can play in creating change.
Read more about our opioid work
Saving lives is the true measure of our success, but winning awards never hurts. We have racked up more than 450 industry awards — and counting — for our effectiveness and creativity, including multiple Emmy, Cannes Lion, Effie, Clio, and Webby awards. truth was even named a top 15 campaign of the 21st century by AdAge and is considered the most successful public health education campaign in modern history. But we'll never rest on our laurels. Our biggest success will be when all people feel empowered to quit and we achieve a future free from lifelong addiction.
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