Meet the AddictDead and learn their stories—and in the process, discover the truth about tobacco and avoid Addiction once and for all.

The Smoking Dead are speaking, Addiction is watching, and time is running out…

In Arizona, Kick Butts Day events were carried out across the state that shed light on tobacco use here, where it is estimated that 6,800 people die each year from tobacco use and nearly 20 percent of Arizona high school students smoke.

From demonstrations in Yuma and Clifton to the Hopi reservation, youth across the state stood proud against Big Tobacco, demanding a change in the industry’s marketing habits targeting teens and appealing to elected officials to join the cause.

In the Valley, four high schools skillfully performed their own “flash mobs” during their lunch periods yesterday in front of their peers, and then came together as one group last night for an encore flash mob performance at Westgate City Center in Glendale, dancing to the Ke$ha hit “Your love is my drug.”

Nearly 200 kids across the state have also elected to “join a movement” of like-minded teens who want to fight big tobacco. This coalition is another layer in the firm’s commitment to tobacco prevention efforts for youth—and adults—across the state.

Kick Butts Day is a reminder for us all to get behind the cause.

The flash mob:

Lung cancer. Smoking. The juxtaposition is intentional.

This is classic “Mad Men.” The smoke is thick. Characters smoke in every possible setting, and they smoke often. The writers overdo it with the smoking to create a not so subtle visual reminder of the ethos of another time. From the first episode of the series titled “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” to the recent scene with Annabelle, a woman whose husband died from his addiction to nicotine, the air on the show is constantly clouded with tobacco smoke.

Because we understand fully today the true effects of smoking, there is little glamour left in taking a long drag and artfully exhaling smoke. RIESTER has been a leader in changing the character of our culture and its relationship with tobacco. One of our signature campaigns characterizes smoking in these words: Tumor causing, teeth staining, smelly, puking habit. There is another important word that describes smoking: killer.

Smokers are addicts. This is not an insult, it’s a physical fact. A massive and repetitious public awareness campaign has changed the way we think of smoking. While these efforts have not ended tobacco addiction, the mind shift that has occurred among millions of people is profound. Today a show like “Mad Men” can use smoking as a backdrop to help capture the feel of a different era. The thick smoke mocks another time. While people still smoke today, very few smoke in public places. The scene described above in “Mad Men” is almost unheard of today. Not many people can get away with smoking at work.

This is a good thing. There is no reason for Annabelle’s husband to be dead from lung cancer, though he was just a fictional character. Every day real people die as a result of their addiction to tobacco. We’ve come a long way since 1963, but the battle continues. Public awareness campaigns are one of the most effective tools available for breaking the grip of addiction.

The final episode of season three of Mad Men airs this Sunday on AMC.