AN ANTI-SMOKING group staged a protest against characters in soaps lighting up.
Youth group D-MYST donned cardboard TVs to parade through the city in their new Smoke Off campaign.
Members want to get smoking out of pre-watershed television programmes, to prevent under-18s seeing unnecessary smoking images.
They are aiming to get 100,000 online signatures so that Parliament considers debating the issue, and will be asking people to sign postcards which will be sent to the regulator, Ofcom.
D-MYST member Matthew Evans, 13, said: “Programmes like Coronation Street and Eastenders regularly contain smoking scenes, at times when young people are watching. There is no need for smoking to be in there – so why put it in?”
Dr Paula Grey, joint director of public health for Liverpool said: “Smoking among young people in this city is already at a high level, and anything that can be done to stop young people taking up the habit is to be encouraged.”
