Asian Media Access has worked with our partners – KaRen Football Association, TTL Foundation and Vietnamese Community of MN to host a 4-month “We Win the Game: Choosing Sports, not Smoking” Social Media Campaign. By partnering with culturally diverse sports teams and youth athletes, AMA has created an authentic and powerful movement that resonates deeply within Pan-Asian and Pan-African communities across Minnesota – to stop youth smoking at early age.
Since June 2025, AMA’s social media campaign has demonstrated the power of culturally relevant messaging that truly connects with communities on an emotional level. By creating content in six languages and targeting BIPOC communities through diverse channels—postcards, PSA videos, social media, surveys, and community outreach — the campaign has achieved remarkable reach. With 164 Facebook posts and 103 Instagram posts reaching 42,316 people, the digital strategy proves that authentic cultural messaging can transcend traditional boundaries while maintaining community authenticity.
Our campaign’s visual storytelling particularly resonates with families and young athletes. Postcards featuring athletes running across vibrant green fields capture the pure joy of movement and competition, while images of cheering parents in traditional dress showcase how sports unite generations around shared pride and aspiration. Action-packed scoring videos don’t just document athletic achievement—they energize viewers by capturing those electrifying moments when individual excellence meets team triumph. These dynamic visuals, combined with anti-tobacco messaging, create powerful associations between healthy choices and winning moments.
What makes these materials especially effective is their authentic representation of community celebration. Parents wearing hijabs, saris, and traditional clothing cheer alongside those in team jerseys, demonstrating how sports create inclusive spaces where cultural identity and athletic achievement coexist beautifully. Young viewers see themselves and their families reflected in these images, making the “choose sports, not tobacco” message feel personally relevant rather than externally imposed. The energy captured in these visuals — the determination in runners’ faces, the explosive joy of goals scored, the proud tears of parents witnessing their children’s success — creates an emotional connection that statistics alone cannot achieve.
Cultural sports teams represent ideal tobacco control advocates because they uniquely combine athletic credibility with cultural authenticity. Pan-Asian and Pan-African athletes possess intimate understanding of both peak performance demands and the specific ways tobacco companies target their communities. Their visible success on the field provides living proof that healthy choices translate to real-world achievements, while their cultural identity enables them to deliver messages that resonate authentically with BIPOC youth.
AMA’s “We Win the Game” campaign illustrates how effective health advocacy emerges from authentic community partnerships. By recognizing that cultural sports teams and athletes are perfectly positioned to lead anti-tobacco efforts, we have created a sustainable model that other communities can adapt. When advocacy combines athletic achievement, cultural pride, and community engagement, it creates champions both on and off the field — exactly what Minnesota’s diverse communities need to win the game against tobacco.
