Depiction of Smoking in Movies Remains High: New Research Presented at World Conference on Tobacco or Health

Depiction of Smoking in Movies Remains High: New Research Presented at World Conference on Tobacco or Health

Study by the American Legacy Foundation(R) and Dartmouth Medical School, New Research from U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and New Parents' Guide All Part of Smoking and Movies-Related Findings at International Meeting

WASHINGTON, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoking in the movies continues to prompt American youth to start smoking, public health experts said today at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health, taking place in Washington, D.C. this week. Experts from the American Legacy Foundation(R), a national public health foundation devoted to prevention and cessation of tobacco use, and Dartmouth Medical School today released a new report finding that American youth continue to be exposed to smoking images in youth-rated films.

This information comes on the heels of the July 7th announcement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which cited information from a previous study indicating that after decades of decline, smoking in the movies increased rapidly in the early 1990s and -- by the year 2002 -- was back to levels last seen in 1950.

"This news is a wake-up call to public health officials and other leaders," said American Legacy Foundation(R) President and CEO, Dr. Cheryl Healton. "We have seen a downward 'ratings creep,' in which studios are shifting depictions of smoking into teen-rated films, and research continues to prove the link between young people seeing smoking in movies and starting to smoke." Teen-rated films are those movies earning G, PG and PG-13 ratings.

The American Legacy Foundation(R) and Dartmouth Medical School research -- titled First Look: Trends in Top Box Office Movie Use, 1996-2004 -- shows that despite a significant decline in the number of tobacco depictions in R-rated movies, no such decline was observed within youth-rated movies during the same nine year period. For this report, researchers reviewed 900 movies, including the top-100 highest-grossing movies per year from 1996 through 2004. Data gathered from these films show that tobacco is depicted in more than 70 percent of youth-rated films and nearly 90 percent of R-rated movies.

"Knowing that tobacco use and imagery remain unchanged in youth-rated films is disturbing, despite research showing that the overall proportion of movies containing tobacco use is down," said Dr. James Sargent, co-author of the First Look report and a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School.

In addition it is important to note that previous reports indicate that in the mid-1990s, the Motion Picture Association of American appears to have "down-rated" movies, resulting in PG-13 ratings for many films that would have previously been rated R. This change may be partly due to economic forces: in 1999 the average PG-13 summer blockbuster garnered $35 million, whereas a similar R-rated movie earned only $20 million.

This change in approach to ratings and continued tobacco imagery in youth- rated films, means that parents must take an active role is determining what images their children see in the movies, public health experts at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health stated. A new parents' guide, Screen Out, was launched by the Smoke Free Movies Action Network, American Legacy Foundation(R), American Heart Association and American Medical Association. The guide provides families with the facts about smoking in the movies and the trend's impact on youth smoking the United States. It also provides parents and civic groups the information, tools and strategies they need to make a difference on a national scale.

"The Screen Out! Guide is designed to help parents and community groups understand the effects of smoking in movies on their kids," said Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco. "Through this guide, we're sharing research information that parents can then use to make their voices heard in their communities, and enter into a dialogue with the companies that control Hollywood and get smoking out of youth-rated films."

Mainstream U.S. films have delivered 44 billion tobacco impressions since 1999 -- the year after major tobacco companies entered into a legally binding agreement with state Attorneys General not to pay for product placement. From 1999 through 2005, 76 percent of U.S. live-action movies rated PG-13 and 40 percent rated G or PG featured tobacco imagery. Over that time the balance of on-screen tobacco incidents has shifted from R-rated into youth-rated films.

Legacy and Dartmouth previously have worked together to communicate research confirming the link between exposure to movie smoking and smoking among U.S. youth. That research indicated that 38 percent of youth smoking initiation can be directly traced to exposure to smoking in movies. In addition, children with the highest exposure of smoking in movies were found to be three times more likely to start smoking than those with the least exposure.

Public health experts added that addressing four main points could reduce the impact of movie smoking on youth. These points are:

* Rate new smoking movies "R." Any film that shows or implies tobacco
should be rated "R."

* Certify no pay-offs. The producers should post a certificate in the
closing credits declaring that nobody on the production received
anything of value from anyone in exchange for using or displaying
tobacco.

* Require strong anti-smoking ads. Studios and theaters should require a
genuinely strong anti-smoking ad (not one produced by a tobacco company)
to run before any film with any tobacco presence, in any distribution
channel, regardless of its MPAA rating.

* Stop identifying tobacco brands. There should be no tobacco brand
identification nor the presence of tobacco brand imagery (such as
billboards) in the background of any movie scene.

Attorneys general from across the country have sent letters to the major film studios to ask them to address this third point -- voluntarily including anti-smoking ads before all DVDs, videos and other newer home viewing formats of movies that contain smoking scenes.

"We look forward to a response from the studios and believe this new research -- from Legacy, Dartmouth and the CDC -- underscores the need for Hollywood's immediate attention. If the entertainment industry truly wants to save young lives from tobacco addiction and premature death, broadcasting public service announcements that have proven to decrease youth smoking prevalence should be a request they'd agree to easily," said J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of the State of Maryland.

For more information and the text of the entire report, please visit: http://www.americanlegacy.org/

The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use through grants, technical assistance and training, youth activism, strategic partnerships, counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns, research, public relations, and outreach to populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco. The foundation's national programs include Circle of Friends(R), Great Start(R), a Priority Populations Initiative, Streetheory(R) and truth(R). The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five US territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.

Source: American Legacy Foundation

CONTACT: Midy Aponte of American Legacy Foundation, +1-202-297-1576,
maponte@americanlegacy.com

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

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