HISTORY

Reality Check is a New York organization created by teens to expose the tricks, lies and manipulation that the tobacco industry relentlessly uses to get us to smoke.

To really understand Reality Check we have to go back to June 2000. That’s when over 150 of us, teens, from all across New York gathered at a statewide summit. It was there that we learned all about the tobacco industry’s dirty little secrets. Secrets of how they use our wants, needs, likes and dislikes against us to get us to smoke. They’re so good at their games that they’ve actually fooled a lot of us into believing smoking’s “cool” and “rebellious.”

So, after hearing about all the sick and twisted games the tobacco industry plays on us, we decided to fight back. And that’s when we created what we call Reality Check, a movement that informs other New York teens about all the manipulative things the tobacco industry does to convince us smoking is normal, cool and rebellious.

In September 2001, a group of us got together to organize and further develop Reality Check. We even went so far as to create a statewide youth-board. It consists of two teens from each county who are elected by other Reality Check members from those counties. And for one year, it’s the board’s job to advise the adults on what Reality Check’s specific focus
should be.

That was the hard part. In both January and April of 2001 we got together again. But this time it was to be trained as facilitators and staff so we could get the word out to more teens like us.

After our training was complete, we felt confident enough to hold another summit, which took place in July 2001 at Keuka College in Western New York.

Over 350 teens showed up. They got to hang out with MTV Road Rules and Real World cast members Piggy, Yes and Julie. Plus, through a combination of education and entertainment they were "edutained" about the shameless manipulative practices of the tobacco industry and what Reality Check is doing to stop them.

By July 2002 our message had spread so much that over 10,000 teens had either attended an event, joined Reality Check, or owned a piece of our gear. Not bad, huh?

If you’d like more information about Reality Check click on the “You” icon and complete the form. We’ll even throw in some free gear. And don’t forget to check the calendar to see when you can attend a Reality Check event in your county.