No. 1 Hit Band Neon Trees Under Attack For Tobacco Sponsorship

by Carol Scott · 2011-07-11 07:16:00 UTC
Topics:

Music fans are slamming Provo, Utah-based Neon Trees -- famous for their No. 1 hit “Animal” -- for playing an international music festival sponsored by a tobacco company despite winning an award for anti-cigarette advocacy

More than 1,000 music fans have signed an online petition on Change.org asking Provo, Utah-based Neon Trees to pull out of an international music festival sponsored by a tobacco company.

The band, famous for their hit “Animal” -- which has been performed on the TV show Glee -- won an award for anti-tobacco advocacy in 2008 -- yet they are slated to perform at Indonesia’s Java Rockin’ Land festival July 22-24, sponsored by Gudang Garam, one of Indonesia’s largest tobacco companies.

Mother Jones magazine reports that the band has ignored a campaign by Marita Hefler, a PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of Sydney asking them to cancel their appearance at the concert. Hefler started her petition on Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change demanding that Neon Trees - as well as Good Charlotte, The Cranberries and other bands pull out of the festival, which features scantily-clad models distributing cigarettes for free to concert-goers.

"We thought the social activism of many of the bands, in particular the public stance of Neon Trees against tobacco, meant they would be horrified to learn they were part of a tobacco promotion, and would immediately take steps to remove the association...obviously we were wrong," Hefler told Mother Jones.

Maroon 5, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and many other bands have declined offers to play music events sponsored by tobacco companies in the past.

The music festival is slated to begin July 22.

Photo credit: Thomas Good via Flickr

RELATED PETITION

Tell Good Charlotte, The Cranberries, Jared Leto, Neon Trees, Ed Kowalczyk & Others: Drop Tobacco Sponsorship in Indonesia!
SIGN PETITION
2,173 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Why Are Good Charlotte, The Cranberries and Happy Mondays Shilling For Big Tobacco?
NEXT STORY:
Why I'm Asking Aetna to Cover My Surgery

COMMENTS (1)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.