‘Road Rules’ alum to speak against tobacco

Not long after the sixth season of MTV’s “Road Rules” started airing on the cable network, Piggy Thomas noticed a couple of Girl Scouts following her around the grocery store.

During her three-month ride around Australia with five other people in a Winnebago, Thomas had learned about catching crocodiles, firefighting and Australian football in the reality-based adventure series.

Back in the States, she became a celebrity almost overnight. But she eventually would learn a harsh reality of reality television – smoking on camera made Thomas a spokesperson for tobacco.

Thomas will share her experiences with tobacco addiction and her anti-tobacco message at 1:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at the Van Buren High School gym. Thomas will speak to high school students as well as junior high students from Woodland, Stockholm and Sweden.

Originally from England, Piggy moved to San Francisco in 1996. Six months later, she applied for “Road Rules” with the intention of making friends.

“I used to sit on the couch and smoke cigarettes and watch the Boston cast of ‘The Real World’ and think it would be a way to get to know people,” Thomas said last week from her home in Seattle. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

While traveling around the Outback was exciting, Thomas didn’t feel connected to the other cast mates. And they weren’t real thrilled with the fact that she smoked.

“I don’t think anyone was very impressed with it,” Thomas said. “It was just kind of understood that they didn’t think it was cool.”

Thomas was well aware of the impact her smoking had on her road mates (she didn’t smoke in the Winnebago they all traveled in), but she hadn’t realized the effect her smoking habit could have on viewers.

While speaking to a group of teenagers after the show had finished filming, one particular youth asked her if she realized she had been indirectly advertising for the tobacco industry by smoking on MTV.

“It hadn’t occurred to me that my actions could affect someone else like that,” Thomas said. “I was so embarrassed.”

The U.S. government banned tobacco advertising from television in 1971. Since then, cigarettes have appeared in television shows and movies, but never in commercials.

“Eight million people a week watching these episodes and I’m smoking,” Thomas said. “The tobacco companies couldn’t pay for this kind of advertising.”

Thomas started smoking as a teenager for what she describes as typical reasons – ones consistently given by teenagers. After experiencing peer pressure to smoke, it became part of a need to be rebellious, to exhibit her individuality.

“As a teenager, you want to do things that make you look different, but you usually end up looking the same as everyone else,” Thomas said. “And teenagers often don’t see that until they get older.”

After a decade of smoking, Piggy decided to take control of her addiction. While her endeavor to quit was aided by a nicotine patch and profuse amounts of carrot juice, Thomas credits her success to the support shown to her by her boyfriend.

“He never yelled at me about smoking and that was key,” Thomas said.

After two years of being smoke-free and a stint as an anti-tobacco advocate for truth.com, Thomas has taken her story to teenagers around the United States.

In her talks, Thomas focuses on the tobacco industry’s relentless pursuit of the teenager. With the billions of dollars tobacco companies pour into marketing to teenagers, they are the age group that needs to be the most aware of the situation, she said.

“Tobacco advertising is the most successful and sophisticated marketing there is on the planet,” Thomas said. “Ask any teenager why they started smoking and I guarantee they won’t tell you it’s because they’ve been targeted by the tobacco industry.”

Thomas also discusses tobacco use on television and film and how it negatively influences mass audiences. The talks have become a means for Thomas to make amends for her role in spreading the glamorization of tobacco products on television.

“This is my way of apologizing for advertising a product that kills its own consumers,” Thomas said.