Tobacco Barns

Back before the Internet and way, way back before direct mail, the Mail Pouch Tobacco company paid farmers to let them paint advertisements on the side of their barns.  There are are many of theses barns still around, including this one, a few miles from Doe Run Farm in West Virginia. 

Sad to say, there are far more tobacco chewers, than barns.  It is not safer than smoking and it is far more disgusting.  In an attempt to combat the proliferation of chewing tobacco consumption, especially by younger men, a West Virginian named Greg Puckett looked to the past.  Why not take the Mail Pouch model and turn it into a modern campaign to quit spit tobacco.

Not only has he been successful in bringing awareness to the perils of chewing tobacco, he has helped revive an old tradition of barn painters.  Read about his campaign in this Modern Farmer article.