Students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School and the men’s soccer team from Brown University will be aiming to kick several “butts” on Thursday, April 3. Fourth graders at the school will join thousands of students across the country for the 13th annual Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative to discourage tobacco use among youth. The event, sponsored by The Miriam Hospital, is the culmination of a project designed to make students aware of ways tobacco advertising can target youth.

Members of the Brown soccer team joined classroom teachers and Lifespan Community Health Services staff to teach the students how tobacco advertising can be manipulative. Despite cartoon character “Joe Camel” being outlawed in 1997, critics cite numerous ads that specifically entice young people. Examples include candy-flavored cigarettes with flavors like “Twista Lime” and “Winter MochaMint”; apple, mint, vanilla and cherry versions of spit tobacco; and hip-hop music themed ads that critics say have a particular appeal to African-American youth.

In an effort to bring attention to these kinds of ads, the students identified tobacco ads with a youthful bent and placed them on a 30-foot wide, heavy-duty poster that has been taped to cover the opening of a soccer goal. On the afternoon of April 3, players from the Brown soccer team and students will attempt to kick the soccer ball through the sheet of tobacco ads as their classmates cheer them on.

Recent statistics show that in Rhode Island, tobacco claims 1,700 lives and costs the state $506 million in health care bills per year. In addition, 15.9 percent of high school students smoke.