Public Health - Tar Wars

Anyone Can Present Tar Wars

Family Medicine residents wear Tar Wars pins made by students!

Tar Wars is an educational program and poster contest designed to discourage tobacco use among young people. We provide a very simple lesson plan that requires little prep time. Ask anyone who has done or seen a presentation in front of a class, and they’ll tell you the kids love it, the teachers love it, and you'll have a blast!

"I just gave a Tar Wars presentation, and it was fun and invigorating! I could be available to other schools if you get a request." - PAFP member

Tar Wars needs family physicians, family medicine residents, medical students - anyone who cares about keeping kids tobacco-free - to present the one-hour Tar Wars lesson. Please contact your local 4th and 5th grade teachers and let them know you’re available to speak.

Tar Wars is designed for public and private schools, but it is just as useful for church groups, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts. .. anywhere 4th and 5th graders gather.

>> Click here for poster contest guidelines and entry instructions

Tar Wars

It’s easy:

1.       Download the latest guide at www.tarwars.org.
2.       Schedule and give your presentation.
3.       Send the PAFP each school’s winning poster by April 15.

Note for presenters in the Philadelphia School District: The principal at the school where you want to present must send a proposal to the district's Chief Academic Officer.

What You'll Talk About with Students

The Tar Wars lesson focuses on:

the reasons people smoke
the consequences of tobacco use
the truth about tobacco advertising

Tar Wars’ main messages:

Students are amazed to learn that not as many people use tobacco as they think, so they know it’s a lie when a peer pressures them to smoke or use chew by saying “everybody’s doing it.”
Students already think tobacco is a smelly, expensive habit, but they’re really disgusted by the jar of tar that’s passed around to show the amount of tar that collects in a person’s lungs after smoking a pack a day for just one year.
After learning how tobacco damages a person’s health and appearance, students analyze magazine ads and billboards and realize that the models in the ads – with white teeth and obvious good health – probably don’t use tobacco.
Talking about the addictive nature of tobacco helps students to empathize with smokers and people who use chew and understand that they are not bad people, they’re people who have an addiction to a bad habit.

The Poster Contest: More Fun, Plus the Chance to Win Prizes

Following the lesson, students create posters, and one winning poster from each school is entered in the state poster contest. The winning Pennsylvania poster is sent to the American Academy of Family Physicians’ National Tar Wars Poster Contest.

>> Click here for poster contest guidelines and entry instructions >>