GUM
The skills used to refuse sharing gum are the same skills you should use to refuse tobacco products.
Supplies:
Packages of gum
2 volunteers (or more based on group size)
Directions:
Instruct the two individuals to stand facing each other in front of the audience. Give a package of gum to one of the volunteers. Instruct the other volunteer not to accept the gum no matter how hard he/she tries to get you to accept it. Instruct the individual with the gum to be creative in the ways he/she tries to entice the other volunteer to accept the gum. Tell the individual to be as pushy or funny as the want to. Try to the best of their ability to get the other person to take their gum. The individual who is not accepting the gum needs to be firm, stand their ground and not accept the gum no matter how persuasive the other individual is. After both individuals have exhausted their efforts thank them and they may return to the audience or if they are part of your pre-planned script, they may exit the stage/front of the room.
Look at the audience and compare the scene to the way many times they are badgered into trying tobacco products. It seems that so many times friends or peers will not accept NO for an answer, they just keep on and on, as we just witnessed. Many times, they wear you down and you agree just because you ran out of reasons to deny their request. It is a proven fact the best way to avoid tobacco addiction is never try any tobacco product.
Tell the audience that you want each one to write down at least 5 reasons to refuse tobacco products. Collect all the ideas and consolidate the list deleting the duplicate ideas. Copy the list of refusal ideas and pass them out to the students later in the day. This instills a sense of self-power and pride in refusing tobacco products.
Feel free to modify each activity based on participant size
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