November 21, 2019 marked the first-ever Eliminate Tobacco Use Day. All around the state, campuses adopted Eliminate Tobacco Use Day messages and materials to celebrate tobacco-free and healthier campuses for all.
Eliminate Tobacco Use Day grew out of a recommendation from the Steering Committee in summer 2019. The idea was that Eliminate Tobacco Use Day could amplify the national tobacco-free momentum around the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of each November. But, we would take the celebration one step further to optimize the unique campus setting; we could advance the Eliminate Tobacco Use brand in a new way and allow for campus customization of the materials and messages via a brand new event toolkit.
Here’s how some of the campuses celebrated Eliminate Tobacco Use Day:
- UT Permian Basin declared November 21, 2019 “Eliminate Tobacco Use Day” via a Student Senate resolution
- UT Health Science Center at Tyler tied Eliminate Tobacco Use Day into their existing Great American Smokeout programming. Educational tabling, a photo booth with props, and a “Knock Out Tobacco” bowling game were part of the event.
- UT RGV added their logo to the selfie-cutout to use for interactive campus outreach with students.
- MD Anderson used the Eliminate Tobacco Use Day graphics to support staff education about their Tobacco Treatment Program and other research and outreach efforts in a central part of campus.
- UT Austin utilized the digital Eliminate Tobacco Use Day graphics in all-staff emails about a full week of health events. Eliminate Tobacco Use Day was celebrated in connection with a Thanksgiving-themed staff walk and a turkey giveaway. Event materials were also used alongside the Peers Against Tobacco Better Bad Habits Lounge.
The Eliminate Tobacco Use Day toolkit can be used by anyone doing tobacco prevention, policy or cessation work on campus, and it includes items like banners, a-frames, flyers, pens, stickers, social media graphics, and even a selfie cutout. The kit can be used to launch a new outreach effort or to support the outreach and education efforts already happening on campus. The Eliminate Tobacco Use Day materials aren’t limited to use in November and would work well for other times of year like January when a majority of quit attempts happen.