Web Site Is Launched Putting On-Screen Smoking In Its True Light

Web Site Is Launched Putting On-Screen Smoking In Its True Light

SceneSmoking.org Exposes Dangers of Tobacco Use in Movies, Calls for Smoking to Be Included in MPAA Ratings

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Web site loaded with information about the dangers of tobacco use on and off movie screens debuts today (Monday, Dec. 13) as the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails launches www.SceneSmoking.org.

In the 1990s, the Sacramento organization pioneered research into tobacco's deep-rooted hold on Hollywood, launching a lobbying effort to reverse Hollywood's reliance on tobacco as props. This includes Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!, which has mobilized youth volunteers to review movies for their tobacco content.

The new Web site expands this concept with real-time movie reviews and by giving parents, teachers, advocates and youth a valuable and easily accessible resource on tobacco content in movies. The overall goal is to communicate the effect of on-screen tobacco usage on youth, and how parents and others can change this trend. This includes lobbying the MPAA to have tobacco use included in the movie ratings.

The site also includes the Web's only counter to update the estimated number of youths who become addicted to tobacco because of what they see in movies. The counter is based on multiple studies among them a Dartmouth College study proving that tobacco use in movies triples the odds that young audience members will try smoking.

The www.SceneSmoking.org site also features:

-- Reviews of movies based on their portrayal of tobacco, with reader-friendly graphics that quickly tell visitors a movie's tobacco content. Youth-written reviews of top movies from young people across the United States.

-- "Scene and Heard," featuring quotes from various celebrities about tobacco use in entertainment.

-- The results of ongoing polls on attitudes about tobacco use and the portrayal of it in movies.

"We have amassed a wealth of information that kids, parents, educators and advocates can use to learn the facts about tobacco depictions in movies," said Kori Titus, director of Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! "They can find out how it gets there and understand the disastrous effect on youth. More importantly, we share ideas on how to get tobacco depictions out of movies aimed at children. This Web site packages all that information and experience, then delivers it straight to the people who need it most."

In addition, the site has in-depth information for educators about tobacco in film. The materials help teachers show students how movies influence their attitude toward smoking. Then it explains how to counter that influence with media literacy -- and how drastically those images of smoking as "cool" depart from the reality of tobacco as deadly and debilitating.

The site can also connect visitors to recent studies and statistics on tobacco and research about the history of Big Tobacco's influence in movies and media.

For more on the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, visit www.saclung.org.


Source: SceneSmoking.com

CONTACT: Gary Zavoral, +1-916-446-9900, or Kori Titus, +1-916-444-5864,
both of SceneSmoking.com

Web site: http://www.saclung.org/

Web site: http://www.scenesmoking.com/


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