RIDE in 60 seconds
• Tobacco control project focused on Asian American young adults in the import car scene throughout California.
• Training – Over 200 volunteer members and counting… RIDE Crew receives trainings on a range of issues including tobacco control, skills-building and social justice issues.
• Outreach – RIDE Crew hits car shows, schools, stores, and car crews with tobacco-control message, materials… and a fleet of customized cars.
• Sponsorship – awarded to car teams to promote the RIDE message in their work.
• Media Campaign – ad placement in magazines, radio, popular TV channels. Innovative media was developed and tested by RIDE Crew.
• Success – in less than four years, RIDE went from an idea on paper to a project with over 200 volunteers, distributed over 10,000 materials, secured tobacco-free policies from car crews, celebrities, car show organizers and media outlets, received awards for media materials placed throughout California, and had editorial write-ups and cable shows featuring the tobacco issues facing the import community and Asian Americans. Post- evaluation data has shown decreases in exposure and smoking behavior.
THE CHALLENGE:
Counter tobacco use, exposure, and promotion among young Asian American adults within a new subculture historically without social justice outlets.Project RIDE sought to directly counter tobacco usage among youth, young adults and Asian Americans through an intervention employing the enormous popularity of the import scene. Priority issues were (1) secondhand smoke exposure, (2) sponsorship by tobacco industry, (3) cessation, and (4) prevention among youth.Recent data showed these communities to be particularly vulnerable based on ethnicity, age, and gender to multiple levels of exposure to tobacco marketing and targeting. The 18 -24 age group showed the greatest increase in smoking prevalence, and is the only group with a trend that has continued to rise after 1998. With tobacco marketing also focused on ethnic populations, Asians within this group are doubly at risk.Moreover, the import scene’s millions of young adult enthusiasts had become an easy target for the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry has had a long partnership history with automotive racing institutions through sponsorships such as NASCAR’s Winston Salem Cup and Marlboro sponsored racecars. The import scene’s incredible expanding popularity and profit potential had begun to attract other industries: import car audiences were being solicited through Hollywood movies, MTV specials, and corporate sponsorships by not only automotive businesses, fast food chains, fashion labels, and soda brands.
THE SCENE:
Import car culture involves customizing, racing, and showcasing import cars.“Import car culture” is the hot new cultural phenomenon of showcasing, auto body customizing, racing, and forming teams focused
on Japanese and other import cars. It is a scene participated in by a massive demographic of primarily young adult and teen males. California in particular has been at the heart of the import scene’s rise due to its proximity to Japan and Hawaii (the import scene’s origins) and the growing population of Asian Americans.The import community has grown from a largely grassroots underground movement, to a multi-billion dollar industry, which has brought significant commercial attention. The incredible growth and popularity of the scene can also be seen in the explosion of auto body shops, magazines, local and national media interest, and import car shows which regularly draw 10,000 young attendees at each event. According to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, young import tuners bought $1.5 billion in parts in 2001, an increase of 25 percent from 2000.Tobacco, alcohol, and other commercial industries have developed disturbing new tactics to attract this community, including adults-only tents, free sampling of candy look-alike products, and marketing that falsely associates masculinity (and their products) with high risk, sex, fast cars, and underground cool.Project RIDE brings together young Americans from throughout Bay Area and beyond, with a love for cars and racing to protect both their communities and the automotive scene from the social injustice.
RIDE uses the same tactics as the tobacco industry to fight back against tobacco targeting of young people aged 18-24 yrs, particularly Asian Americans.
Specifically:
• Build up supporters inside a popular culture phenomenon:
RIDE has built up a network of young committed car enthusiasts, store owners, event managers and community workers who want to make a difference within the import scene.
• Protect sponsorship opportunities from tobacco influence:
RIDE is securing policies against receiving tobacco funds from car crews, car events, and other areas of influence such as magazines.
• Use marketing efforts to change attitudes and awareness around smoking and secondhand smoke – especially in cars and homes.
The RIDE crew travels statewide with their show cars and their message.
The RIDE crew is made up of over 25+ volunteers from around California who have collected over 2000 first-of-its-kind needs assessment surveys, and distributed over 10,000 RIDE materials.
RIDE has reached over 150,000 people through:• booths at all the major car shows including D1 Grand Prix USA, Hot Import Nights, and Import Revolutions.
• presentations at colleges, high schools, and middle schools.
• presentations at Asian cultural events, youth groups, and trade schools.
• Addy Award winning media campaign appearing on buses, in car magazines, and on radio.
