Local youth leaders mobilize against tobacco marketing at statewide summit

OSWEGO, N.Y. — July 2026. Despite significant progress in reducing youth vaping in New York, more than one in 10 high school students still use e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouch use is rising in popularity. As manipulative tobacco marketing continues to attract and addict young people to nicotine, local teens are stepping up to fight back.

Four students from the towns of Brentwood and Hempstead recently joined over 100 teens from across the state at SUNY Oswego for the three-day All-Around New York Youth Summit designed to inform, involve and inspire them to fight the tobacco industry’s influence in their home communities. The Long Island teens are part of Reality Check, the youth component of the Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island, and a program of the statewide Tobacco Control Program funded by the state’s Department of Health. Reality Check is a youth-led movement that empowers young people to become community leaders. Supported by adults, the initiative exposes the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.

Youth attendee, Bryanna Platero shared that she believes “programs like Reality Check are important for youth. This is because it helps them understand how major tobacco companies try to appeal to them, while also giving them the tools to combat that.”

Vaping drops but e-cigarettes are still popular among youth
According to the 2024 New York Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarettes remain the most used tobacco product among high school students. Efforts by the New York State Tobacco Control Program have helped reduce youth use from 18.7% in 2022 to 13.1% in 2024. Despite this progress, more than one in 10 youth still use e-cigarettes and nicotine pouch use among this group doubled during the same time period.

Teens prepare to take action
During the three-day summit, teens developed leadership, communication and mobilization skills by engaging in workshops, learning storytelling techniques and creating displays for community education. They also planned and practiced activities to carry out locally. Their aim is to raise awareness about industry tactics that normalize tobacco use—marketing sweet, low-cost products that appeal to young people and make it harder for current users to quit.

“I learned various things at Youth Summit that I was able to bring back to help educate my community. For example, I brought back how to hold a tabling event, as well how to become better at public speaking – which is such a valuable tool needed for our communities to change and understand the real impact of the tobacco industry.” – Bryanna Platero, Hempstead High School.

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The Tobacco Action Coalition of LI is one of 21 Advancing Tobacco Free Communities’ grants funded by the NYS DOH’s Bureau of Tobacco Control and administered by the American Lung Association. Our grant is comprised of a community engagement and youth action component, Reality Check, who work collaboratively to promote environments open to creating a tobacco-free norm as well as educating and empowering our youth to become change agents within their communities.

Source: New York Youth Tobacco Survey 2024