It's curtains for Cigarettes: Movie-makers are being asked to support the fast-accelerating global war against smoking

Alongkorn Parivudhiphongs
Bangkok Post
Monday, May 26, 2003

On Saturday, May 31, the film industry around the world is being asked to join in the war against smoking.

Under the slogan ``Tobacco-free Film, Tobacco-free Fashion'', the World Health Organisation (WHO) wants to stamp out links between movies and cigarettes. On the WHO's wish list:

- A ban on anything smoking-related brand names appearing in movies

- An R-rating for movies that include smoking scenes or show cigarette products

- Anti-smoking ads to be displayed before movie screenings

- Viewers to be informed if a movie has received sponsorship from a tobacco company.

``Smoking cigarettes used to be a symbol of `cool'. But the world has progressed and we now know that it's not chic, it's dangerous,'' said Dr Prakti Vateesatogkit, Executive Secretary of the Action on Smoking and Health foundation in Thailand.

Promotion of smoking in the movies comes in a variety of forms, he pointed out. Direct promotion is when major characters are seen smoking, sometimes displaying a brand name pack. The more indirect forms of endorsement including showing tobacco company logos on products like racing cars, banner ads, T-shirts or caps.

Both forms are still commonly seen in both international and local movies. ``There's evidence that tobacco companies pay Hollywood producers and actors for exposure,'' said Dr Prakit. There is no evidence that this is the case with local movies.

But are members of the public really so gullible that seeing someone smoke in a movie is going to make them follow suit? Apparently, yes.

Studies in Europe and the USA have reported that movies are instrumental in youngsters picking up the habit _ the kids say they like imitating their favourite stars.

There has been no similar research in Thailand, but anecdotal evidence from one actor, Korakod Thanaphat, suggests that things aren't much different here.

``After watching the box office movie 2499 Untaparn Krong Muang (Dang Birley and the Gangsters), kids at the temple [where Karokod was ordained] starting trying to hold cigarettes in the same pose as the movie characters. They thought it looked cool,'' said Korakod. Pre-teens are at an age when they're searching for role models, he added.

According to National Statistics Offices records, some 1.5 million young people aged 15-24 were regular smokers in 2001. Of these, 58.2 percent started between the ages of 15 and 19. Almost 28 percent started at 20-24 years old. It was estimated that the country had 1,000 new youth smokers every day between 1986 and 2001.

Dr Prakit cited 1999 research showing that though most smokers were male, there was a worrying rise in the number of females taking up the habit. And many kids said they were influenced by American videos as well as local and international movies.

``It's crucial that we take action with the Thai media, especially films, in order to protect our youth,'' said Dr Prakit.

Do Thai movies really endorse smoking? According to a recent content-analysis study by Saovalak Asavatevavith, a PhD student at the Psychology Department, Chulalongkorn University, 14 out of 19 Thai movie releases last year contained smoking scenes. A total of 215 scenes featured a character holding, smoking or passing on a cigarette, or tucking one behind an ear. In 37 scenes, characters were seen smoking a pipe or a home-made cigarette. Two scenes featured cigarette packs.

``Interestingly enough, it was the lead characters and main supporting actors that were the heaviest smokers,'' said Saovalak.

Typically, the smokers were ``bad guy'' characters like prisoners, prostitutes, gunmen, gangsters, bar owners and alcoholics. In this sense, smoking is often clearly associated with human vice.

In Danny Pang's 1+1 Pen O (Nothing to Lose), for example, two run-away thieves are seen talking about how euphoric smoking makes them. This makes another lead character, a non-smoker, give it a shot.

Whether the ``bad guy'' associations in the movies help give smoking a bad name or just perpetuate its ``chic'' image is unclear and needs further study, Saovaluk said.

She reckons, however, that there is no need for the characters to be seen smoking. ``You could cut the smoking scenes and it wouldn't affect the theme or the aesthetics of the story.''

But others aren't convinced that smoking doesn't have a genuine role in the job of storytelling.

``It helps evoke the mood of a character or a scene,'' said actor Korakod, who has played many bad guys on TV in recent years.

Bad guys are commonly seen as moody and aggressive. Smoking suits the image of stressed-out, emotional baddies, he said.

In a silent scene, say, in which a bad guy is plotting something evil, the atmosphere may be intensified if he's chain-smoking.

``To a certain degree that's just realistic. People smoke to get rid of stress and to help themselves think,'' said Korakod.

Smoking can have other aesthetic purposes. Smoky air and smoke rings can enhance an atmosphere. Smoke has also been artistically used for scene fade-ins and fade-outs.

``Movies and TV are about visual communication. Many film-makers will do anything if it looks appealing,'' said Korakod.

Thailand has actually long been ahead of many countries on the issue of smoking and advertising. The Broadcasting Act of 1955 banned tobacco products or smoking on TV, in both programmes and advertisements. Violators, in this case the directors of the TV channels, are liable to be put on probation, have their license revoked, be imprisoned for five years, fined up to 100,000 baht, or any combination of the above.

But the legislation doesn't cover the film industry.

Dr Prakit steps back from advocating a total ban.

``I dont mean that film-makers can't have any smoking in their movies. That would violate their artistic rights and freedom of expression. But it should be done with full awareness of the effects. After all, the global trend is now against smoking because of its harmful effects.''

Saovalak said that some local film-makers are unwitting helpers, or ``innocent victims'' of the tobacco industry. In one movie, Dong Phaya Fai (The Trek), the lead character is seen wearing a shirt with the logo of a cigarette brand. ``It wasn't that there was sponsorship or anything. Probably the costume department just didn't realise.''

Hollywood is already starting to heed the anti-tobacco lobby's call, Dr Pradit said. It's not uncommon now to see lead characters in movies declining offers of cigarettes or announcing they've quit. Some are seen telling others that they should quit too. There are more movies showing heavy smokers suffering or dying from smoking-related illnesses.

The same phenomenon is happening in a small portion of Thai films, said Saovalak. Two 2002 movies featured discussions on the negative aspects of smoking. In Nor Chor Nakthod Chai (Inmates), a doctor warns prisoner smokers about the health dangers. In Kang 8 (Butterfly in Grey), a female prisoner asks another inmate why she still smokes. Both scenes are very short.

Director and producer Rashane Limtrakul, head of Avant Studio, a division of RS Promotion, bristles at any notion that the movies should lecture audiences.

``Preaching is not the answer here. There are many other ways to tell people about the dangers of cigarettes or other drugs. Movie making is an art.''

His film Mue Puen Lok/Pra/Chan (Killer Tattoo) features an amphetamine user and a pot-smoker who brazenly get high in a Buddhist temple. After beating each other up, they start hallucinating. One thinks he sees the police. The other has a vision of his wife as a ghost. They run for their lives. Then we see a monk shaking his head and mumbling, ``did they really do this bad thing, in a temple?''

``A social message works well and is effective if it immediately follows a scene showing the harmful side of the behaviour,'' said Rashane.

But will the concept ``Tobacco-free Film, Tobacco-free Fashion'' really make a difference?

``We just hope that film-makers will co-operate and be more alert to the issues,'' said Dr Prakit.

``Our company aims to make family and socially-positive films. I'd prefer not to show smoking,'' said Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, noted director of Satree Lek 1-2 (Iron Ladies 1-2) and a producer with Hub Ho Hin Film production.

He reckons that movies look dreadful when they appear on TV with smoking scenes smudged out by the censors.

``It's so irritating. To avoid it, why not produce cigarette-free movies from the start?'' he said.

Rashane is keeping an open mind.

``There are hundreds of ways to use of cigarettes in movies, in both negative and positive lights. As a socially-conscious director, I'll choose which direction my movies take,'' he said.

Actor Korakod said all elements of society as well as all sections of the media, including newspapers and Web sites, need to cooperate in the fight against direct and indirect promotion of cigarettes.

``The campaign should start in the family and in schools. And there should be more enforcement on the legal side,'' he said.

``If we began today, we could have a more tobacco-free, healthy generation ten years from now,'' he said.