For the past eight months, LearnPlay Foundation has worked closely with Creative Health to develop a set of computer games based around tobacco control.
Creative Health is a Community Interest Company specialising in using the arts to promote wellbeing.
The three games deal specifically with second hand smoke, nicotine addiction and the multiple risks surrounding the use and purchase of illegal tobacco.
LearnPlay Foundation has over a decade of expertise in taking hot topics and developing them into exciting and informative games aimed at reaching a wider audience.
The games aim to informally educate young people about both the long and short-term effects of tobacco use, not only on the smoker’s health but also on those around them – and even the economy.
Everything from the unique in-house branding to the style and tone of the games has been created with input from young adults accessing LearnPlay Foundation.
‘Take Back Control from tobacco’ is a wider arts and health programme across the Black Country and has involved more than 500 young people aged 16-18 over the last 18 months. Alongside the games, accessed via the programme’s YouTube channel, are six music videos covering the same tobacco-related topics. Teenagers from local colleges and youth hubs have worked with Creative Health artists to write and record original songs and turn them into a set of powerful films on the topics.
The programme is funded by the Black Country Tobacco Control Alliance and Arts Connect.
Both the music videos and games were showcased during the project’s public launch on Monday March 25 at the Light House Cinema in Wolverhampton.
