SMOKE-FREE MOVIES
Imagery emanating from motion pictures continues to provide misleadingly positive impressions of tobacco use. These images have now been identified as a risk factor for smoking initiation among adolescents.
In 2008, the National Cancer Institute of the United States concluded that: “the total weight of evidence from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental studies, combined with the high theoretical plausibility from the perspective of social influences, indicates a causal relationship between exposure to movie smoking depictions and youth smoking initiation. ” As the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control begins to be implemented, Parties to the treaty must soon undertake a comprehensive ban of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship .
In the past, movies have been an important vehicle for product placement, indirect advertising of tobacco products and social learning about smoking. The direct marketing of tobacco in the movies, particularly movies originating from the United States, remains an important vehicle for promoting smoking, including in films rated suitable for children and adolescents. Voluntary agreements with the tobacco industry to limit smoking in movies have not and cannot work because the fiduciary interests of the tobacco industry are opposite those of the public health community.
In the United States, the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the states’ Attorneys General and the major domestic tobacco manufacturers included a provision in which the manufacturers agreed to a prohibition on paid tobacco product placement in movies . However, evidence has shown increased smoking exposure in movies made subsequent to the implementation date of the agreement . Logic and science now support enforceable policies to severely restrict smoking imagery in all film media, not only in movies made in the United States. India, home of the world’s most active movie industry, has taken significant steps to address smoking imagery rampant in Indian movies, with initiatives to prohibit this imagery in most new movies.
Those films that still include smoking, such as the portrayal of a historical figure who actually smoked (e.g., Winston Churchill), would receive an “A” (adult content) rating. Policies to substantially limit movie smoking ensure that motion pictures will not continue to serve as a source of tobacco promotion aimed at young people. In addition, strong and enforceable policy measures can be supported by programmes to educate the public and policymakers, as well as the entertainment industry, on the value of reducing young people’s exposure to tobacco imagery. This document summarizes current knowledge about smoking in movies, as well as current and proposed approaches to reduce the impact of this imagery.
