Educational Media Reviews Online

Spit This! focuses on smokeless tobacco and the common misperception that it is healthier than smoking cigarettes. The DVD uses clips of interviews with doctors and cancer survivors to convey the health problems associated with using smokeless tobacco. The program’s strengths are the visuals, the interviews, coverage of both health and social aspects, and the included teaching activities.

There are two very effective types of visual aids used in the program: photos and interviews. Numerous photos of the inside and outside of the mouth in various cancer stages effectively convey the effects of using smokeless tobacco. One of the interviews is with a man who lost most of the lower half of his face due to smokeless tobacco. The impact of seeing his scarred face reinforces his words; he discusses how he got started using it, how it impacted his athletic abilities, and the impact it had on his family. Interviews with doctors also help to convey information about the health consequences.

Social aspects of using smokeless tobacco, such as peer pressure, are also emphasized. Two teenagers, one of whom previously used smokeless tobacco, are editing audio and video they have recorded for a program to encourage their peers to quit using. Their friend, who has recently started using smokeless tobacco, enters the studio and says he will not experience health problems because he is only going to do it for a few years. Soon after, a girl enters the studio and is grossed out by the boy’s spitting juice into a bottle. By the end of the program, he has decided to quit using smokeless tobacco.

Modern aspects of smokeless tobacco are used throughout the DVD, which makes it appealing to teenagers because they can identify with contemporary examples. For example, it covers snuf, which is tobacco sold in white pouches and marketed as a healthy alternative to other forms of tobacco. The program also refers to cigarette companies buying smokeless tobacco companies as the number of smokers decline, in order to increase profits.

A binder with student activities, fact sheets, glossary, and Internet resources add value to this DVD. Teachers can easily incorporate the activities into a health curriculum, especially the ideas for class debate topics and smokeless tobacco advertising that students can analyze. Highly recommended for public and school libraries that serve middle and high school students and academic libraries with curriculum collections.