11/30/04

Students fight tobacco-rodeo link
By Jim Killackey
The Oklahoman

The metro area's Students Working Against Tobacco is trying to get the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to end its national sponsorship agreement with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco.

"We think other sponsors are more appropriate for a family-oriented event such as rodeos," said Candy Cernigliaro, coordinator for the student group.

Cernigliaro today is scheduled to e-mail 450 members of the student group an open letter written by the Oakland-based "Buck Tobacco" sponsorship project.

"Tobacco doesn't belong in any sport, including rodeos," Andrea Craig Dodge, Buck Tobacco director, says in an open letter to be sent later this week to PRCA Commissioner Steven J. Hatchell. "Spit tobacco causes deadly, disfiguring oral cancers and increases the risk of heart disease."

Buck Tobacco, Dodge says, supports any efforts by the PRCA to instead "attract more family-friendly sponsors," such as cowboy boots and jeans.

About one in 10 teenage boys in the United States uses smokeless tobacco, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Rodeo scoreboards, banners, and program ads sponsored by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco send a confusing message to young audience members," Dodge says in the letter.

Leslie King, PRCA communications director, said Monday that U.S. Smokeless Tobacco "has been a good partner with us" over the past 10 years, allowing the rodeo association and its 700 rodeos nationwide "to grow and go to the next level" in American sports.

But King said PRCA leaders "are interested in what our fans are thinking" about all tobacco issues.
Of Buck Tobacco and the student group, King said: "We appreciate their input and value their perspective."
Jon Schwartz, a U.S. Smokeless Tobacco spokesman in Connecticut, said Monday: "Our association with rodeos has been well appreciated by our adult rodeo fans because it's helped the sport grow. Rodeo only has had a few national corporate sponsors."

In June, the New York Times reported that PRCA officials had indicated they would re-examine their relationship with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco before signing any new deal when their 10-year contract ends Dec. 31, 2005.
When metro-area student group members receive the e-mail, they can send it to Dodge in Oakland at acdodge@phi.org.

The letter then will be delivered to Hatchell on Thursday or Friday at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
Anti-tobacco officials in Oklahoma hope that many of about 4,500 student members statewide send their names to Buck Tobacco for inclusion in the letter to PRCA Commissioner Hatchell.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco has been a sponsor or co-sponsor of rodeos in Oklahoma.
The student group has protested against smokeless tobacco at the Guthrie 89'er Day Parade and Bullnanza in Oklahoma City.