I was shocked to find out that this year the Winter X Games VII, your extreme sports event that is so popular with kids, has a new sponsor - the Lorillard Tobacco Company. This company's so-called youth anti-smoking program, is best known for its ridiculous slogan, "Tobacco is Whacko …If You're a Teen," which promotes the idea that smoking is an adult habit - making smoking more attractive to teens striving to rebel and to appear more mature than their years.
Lorillard is using this program to get its name and its message before kids in communities across the country. Recent studies have shown that tobacco industry "anti-youth smoking programs" may actually encourage kids to smoke.
Did you know that Lorillard is the manufacturer of Newport cigarettes, the brand preferred by a whopping 80% of African-American youth smokers and the number one menthol brand in the country? ESPN and the Winter X Games shouldn't be partnering with an industry whose product kills over 400,000 people in the United States every year and which relies on a steady stream of new customers -- kids! -- to maintain its profits.
Please don't be a party to this blatant ploy by Lorillard to reach kids. I hope that you will act quickly to sever all ties between the X Games and the Lorillard Tobacco Company in order to protect the image of the ESPN and the health of its fans. I look forward to reading your positive response to this request.
