400 plan to protest tobacco sponsor Bull-riding event's branding spurs concern.
By Jeff Raymond
Published: February 16, 2007
More than 400 children and adults from across Oklahoma will meet Saturday in downtown Oklahoma City to protest a bull-riding sponsorship from a tobacco company.
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The protesters will urge Professional Bull Riders Inc. to drop U.S. Smokeless Tobacco as a sponsor. The U.S. Smokeless Challenger Professional Bull Riders Championship tour is in Oklahoma City this week.
The tobacco company, which makes Skoal and Copenhagen, is the title sponsor.
The protest will begin at 5 p.m. at the Brick Street circle on Reno, between the Ford Center and the Cox Convention Center. Students Working Against Tobacco, a statewide youth movement that works to expose tobacco companies' youth marketing, will lead the protest.
"We're excited that the sport is growing so much in popularity,” Jennifer Fugate, a member of the anti-tobacco group, said in a news release. "But we're concerned that the PBR athletes who display tobacco branding on their clothing are sending the message that chewing tobacco is part of being a grown-up or cowboy.”
The PBR Challenger Tour also will have smokeless tobacco samples, scoreboards, banners and ads.
•Risks: Smokeless tobacco use can lead to oral cancer, gum disease and nicotine addiction, in addition to increasing users' risk of cardiovascular disease.
•In Oklahoma: One in five Oklahoma high school boys use smokeless tobacco, more than twice the U.S. average, the state Health Department says.
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