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Smoke-Free Movies

Smoking in the movies…

The Tobacco industry has a long history of obscuring the truth about tobacco and deceiving smokers. This section exposes these deceitful tactics of the tobacco companies.

In the past Big Tobacco glamorized smoking in movies, music videos & television. Lighting up in the movies provides a powerful message to the youth, often subliminal, that smoking is a normal and even desirable activity. Smoking in the movies is often associated with:

  • Ruggedness in men, desirability in women
  • Rebellion (lighting up used as a symbol for challenging authority)
  • Stress relief (as tension builds, stars reach for a smoke)
  • Fun in highly desirable social settings (even though in real life you can't smoke in most of them anymore).

Is there a link between VIEWING smoking in the movies and STARTING smoking?

  • Adolescents who viewed the most smoking in the movies almost three times more likely to initiate smoking compared to those lightly exposed. 1
  • Non-smoking teens whose favorite stars frequently smoke on screen are sixteen times more likely to have positive attitudes about smoking in the future. 2

References

  1. Dalton, M. A., Sargent, J. A., Beach, M. L., Ernstoff, L. T., Gibson, J. J., Ahrens, M. B., Tickle, J.J. & Heatherton, T. F. (The Lancet. Published online June 10, 2003)
  2. Smoke Free Movies How Movies Sell Smoking http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/problem/bigtobacco.html