The Truth about smoking is fun and games

Emcee Paul Lameiro, center, declares Carlos Perez, left, the winner in a game called "Drop Around the World" at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach on Monday. Finishing in second place was Nicholas Hernandez, right. Lameiro works for "Truth", an organization the looks to prevent teen smoking and raise awareness to the dangers of tobacco. CHRISTINE COTTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Games of Jenga with giant blocks, limbo contests and sand bowling are part of an effort by Truth to educate teens at the U.S. Open of Surfing about the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

The national smoking awareness and education group plays games with kids, then gives away free swag such as T-shirts, iPhone cases and sunglasses, all of it imprinted with a message about the dangers of smoking. But you don't get the free stuff if you don't play the games.

That way, the kids have fun, gain a memorable experience and hopefully realize the dangers of smoking.

"We want to give them the options, the information to make their own decisions," said Cody Griswold, a marketer and brand ambassador working Truth's booth at the U.S. Open, which is going on in Huntington Beach all week. "We don't tell anyone not to smoke. If you tell someone, especially the kids we're trying to reach, to not do something, the first thing they're going to do is do it."

One such fact: More people die because of tobacco products every year than auto accidents, murder, suicide, AIDS, drugs, fires, knife fights, lightning strikes, shark attacks, "squirrel maulings" and "yeti attacks" combined. Another: One in three youth smokers will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.

Monday at the U.S. Open, teens seated in a circle bounced a ball back and forth using just their legs, getting their chance at free shirts and sunglasses. A while later they competed in a group game of limbo, seeing who could bend the farthest backward and pass under a pole.

The games and tobacco awareness message offered to some of the estimated 1 million visitors at the U.S. Open were set against a backdrop of pro surfers tearing up waves and surf companies hawking their brands.

For those who don't like to play games, a graffiti artist will come to the Open this weekend to paint a piece live, Griswold said.

Griswold is familiar with the dangers of tobacco use: As a kid, his mom smoked, even while he avoided it. He'd go to Truth events in his home state of Pennsylvania and bring home gear imprinted with facts, trying to tell his mom what her habit was doing to her.

The most heart-wrenching fact for him? In 1996, tobacco companies embarked on a Marketing campaign to sell to homosexuals and homeless people. The name was Project SCUM, which stood for Subculture Urban Marketing.

"A lot of people know cigarettes are dangerous, but a lot of people don't know the companies putting this out view their customers so low," Griswold said.

People can also follow Truth on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where they'll get updates this week on where a skateboard is somewhere on the sand at Huntington Beach. The first to find it gets a free skateboard deck.

The Huntington Beach stop marks the second to last in a national tour that has stretched from New York to Texas to Missouri.

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