Youth, truth®, Hoops and Music The orange "truth® trucks" trek has begun yet again! truth® kicked off its 8th annual nationwide summer tour on June 29 in Los Angeles. The truth® tour capitalizes on the fun, informal atmosphere of music and basketball tours, as a way to have truth® "crew members" share information with teens about the addictiveness of tobacco products, tobacco's adverse health effects, and the social consequences of smoking. Launched in February 2000, truth® is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The truth® crew members — young people in their early 20s — were selected from a pool of more than 1700 applicants to represent a cross-section of the types of youth that the truth® tour encounters. At each stop, the TCMs engage teens in attendance by hosting fashion shows, dance contests, freestyle rap "battles," and DJ lessons through "Scratch Academy"—a group of DJs who school newcomers on the fundamentals of DJ'ing, through scratching and mixing music. Additionally, impromptu games and giveaways featuring the latest truth® "gear" as prizes spread health-conscious messages through fashionable items of clothing. truth® finds itself in tuneful company. Throughout the summer, truth® will travel with two of the season's hottest teen-oriented music tours: the VANS Warped Tour®, featuring rock acts like Red Jump Suit Apparatus, The Used, The Almost (all on Billboard's Top 20); and, for the first time, SCREAMFEST '07, headlined by platinum-selling rapper, T.I., and Grammy-nominated R&B artist Ciara. Fourteen truth® "crew members" will make more than 60 stops in 49 cities across 20 states. truth® will also prove its court-side prowess. In addition to the music tours, truth® will be on the road with the BALL4REAL World Tour, a basketball-themed event where local players across the country compete with established hoop stars. The truth® crew members (TCMs) will make eleven stops with BALL4REAL. The BALL4REAL tour also emphasizes community outreach with stops at YMCAs, boys and girls' clubs, and community centers. truth® crew members will again be featured on the fuse cable channel, extending a successful partnership from the 2006 tour. Each Wednesday, fuse devotes its entire programming lineup to the Vans Warped Tour with "Warped Wednesday." The lineup includes video vignettes, documentary-styled looks at life on the tour and on the ground of the tour. The presence of the truth® crew and trucks in these vignettes creates an opportunity for teens to get a real-life sense of life on the road as a truth® crew member. Some of the content captured on camera will be available exclusively at www.fuse.tv. "truth® is exactly the kind of tobacco awareness campaign the Institute of Medicine (IOM) referred to in its recent report, citing the need for supporting effective campaigns at the national and state levels," said Cheryl Healton Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®. "Last year, the truth® tour reached more than 750,000 teens across the country. With the tobacco industry spending nearly 36 million dollars every day on marketing, it is imperative that truth® continue to bring its message directly to young people at events across the country where teens naturally gather and interact."