A link between teen smoking and movies?

[Thom Little]

For the first time, antismoking activists can point to a national study - released earlier this month - that links on-screen smoking to tobacco use among teens. The findings suggest that for every 10 teens who try tobacco products, four were influenced by movies. Armed with the new research, a coalition of children's- and health-advocacy groups and politicians is urging Hollywood to take action.

Variety, the entertainment industry newspaper, recently reported that attorneys general in 32 states signed a letter earlier this month calling for major studios to run antismoking public-service announcements with all DVD and video releases that show people smoking.

On Nov. 7, leaders of the National PTA, the American Medical Association, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and other organizations ran a full-page ad in Variety demanding an automatic R rating for films that include smoking. The ad proclaims that any delay will lead to "knowing recruitment of multitudes of new young smokers."

Citing the research findings, Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research at the University of California at San Francisco, says filmmakers are "delivering 400,000 kids a year to the tobacco industry, and that's wrong. ... They're abusing their audiences, and their audience's parents, and it's totally unnecessary."


http://csmonitor.com/2005/1122/p02s02-ussc.html

[AussieDave]

1. In this day and age, with all the information that's out there

if people are dumb enough to take up smoking - then they can hack their lungs out in 30 or 40 years' time as far as I'm concerned, and they should NOT be covered by any health care plan - period.

That's such a good excuse - "I saw them smoking in the movie, so it must be cool" - what utter bullshit.

Sorry - end of rant - this subject just makes me crazy.

And even if you've already been welcomed to DU, welcome again !!!:hi:

[NMMNG]

2. Automatic "R" for films with smoking?

Hello overkill.

Kids and teens start smoking because they see people in movies do it? Maybe we should give an automatic "R" to movies with fight scenes, arguments, car chases, consumption of alcohol, lying and any other behavior we don't want children to emulate. After all, they will obviously copy anything they see in movies so we can't allow them to see such things in them. :sarcasm: