Smoking and movies have a long standing association. Movie stars smoking on and off screen has been an integral part of the film industry for decades. But a disturbing trend seems to be emerging from this association. More and more youth who are or have been smokers have admitted to have taken the first puff before the age of fifteen. Apart from friends and family, a third major factor responsible for them to have taken to smoking is movies.
Statistics
Kids exposed to onscreen smoking form a majority of those who take up smoking in teenage or later. The early exposure to smoking seems to create a favourability and a positive attitude in their minds towards smoking. Earlier the exposure, greater are the chances of the individual taking to smoking. The largest percentage of onscreen smoking (about 60-80%) is seen in movies rated as “PG” and “PG-13″, the category of movies kids and youth are most exposed to.
In the last two decades or so, tobacco companies have imposed a self-regulatory ban combined with a legal ban on product placements of tobacco in movies. Even then, instances of onscreen smoking in “PG-13″ movies have seen a sharp increase (almost 50%) in the last few years. Almost 75% of movies made in Hollywood in the last few years have instances of tobacco use in them.
The tobacco industry is said to earn thousands of dollars in sales of their products solely atttributable to movies and their influence on youth to take up smoking. The film industry, however, does not seem to benefit directly in any way from showing tobacco use in films.
Authenticity
Although there is still an ongoing debate about the authenticity of such claims, many researches like those by the Dartmouth Medical School and by Linda Titus-Ernstoff and her team are proof that this is a real problem. Such researches have had a strong influence in helping authenticate these claims.
Remedy
A simple way to solve this problem is to avoid showing smoking onscreen. As mentioned above, the film industry has no direct benefits from showing onscreen smoking scenes. Simply doing away with such scenes altogether from movies could be an easy way out of this menace, without any losses to the movie industry. It would also put the film industry in a positive light for being socially responsible.
It now remains to be seen as to how the movie industry reacts and responds to these claims and research findings and if actors themselves take a stand on this issue.
