November 13, 2002
For More Information, Contact:
Darlene Colvin or Kirsty Burkhart
(310) 552-6922
PROMINENT HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN HOLLYWOOD'S GLAMORIZATION OF SMOKING
World Health Organization, American Medical Association, and Other Public Health Leaders Seek to Stop Entertainment Industry's Role in Promoting Tobacco Use
HOLLYWOOD (Nov. 13, 2002) The United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO), American Medical Association (AMA) and other public health leaders today condemned the on-screen use of tobacco and the entertainment industry's supporting role in fostering a worldwide epidemic of death and disease. WHO and AMA challenged the entertainment industry to reduce its role in domestic and global tobacco marketing and outlined specific actions the industry should take to stop promoting and glamorizing tobacco use.
- Encourage the Motion Picture Association of America to issue an "R" rating to films that show smoking (unless the film clearly and unambiguously reflects the dangers and consequences of tobacco use).
- Quit identifying tobacco brands and eliminate all brand images, whether in action or background shots.
- Run strong anti-tobacco ads before films that contain any tobacco presence, regardless of the film's rating.
- Roll on-screen credits in films with smoking certifying that nobody on a production accepted anything of value from any tobacco company, its agents or fronts.
"Tobacco kills nearly five million people per year, one million more than it did just a decade ago," said Chitra Subramaniam, head of policy analysis and communications at the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative. "As countries worldwide grapple with the devastating and increasing impact of tobacco use, the entertainment industry must acknowledge the role it plays in shaping behavior particularly for youth who are so susceptible to the on-screen glamorization of smoking. With influence comes responsibility."
Despite the tobacco industry's 1989 voluntary ban on paid product placements in movies and the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement provisions that bar marketing tobacco to youth, smoking in Hollywood movies has actually increased. According to a recent study by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, tobacco's screen time in PG-13 movies and videos climbed 50 percent in 1999-2000, compared to 1996-1997. Two out of three tobacco scenes in the 50 top-grossing movies released from April 2000 to March 2001 were in youth-oriented G, PG and PG-13 films. Cigarette brand logos were shown in one-third of PG-13 movies and in 1-in-5 movies rated G or PG.
"The AMA wants the entertainment industry to stop glamorizing cigarette smoking," said AMA Trustee Ronald M. Davis, M.D. "It serves only to reinforce smoking as a desirable behavior, and encourages young people to experiment with tobacco products and become addicted."
Several reliable studies found that teens who have watched movies containing numerous instances of smoking are three times more likely to try smoking and those whose favorite stars smoke on screen are 16 times more likely to have positive attitudes toward smoking.
For parents and other concerned moviegoers, several Web sites post smoking scene information including: www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu and www.scenesmoking.org. Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and founder of the Smoke Free Movies project, added, "Both in the U.S. and overseas, American movies are a key vehicle for promoting tobacco addiction. Hollywood needs to stop doing the industry's dirty work. There are simple steps the entertainment industry can take that would not alter content but would provide audiences with critical information. If Hollywood is doing Big Tobacco's dirty work for money they are corrupt; if they are giving away millions of dollars of advertising for free they are stupid."
"Stopping the tobacco industry's influence on youth is a priority for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services," said Jonathan Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., director of public health and health officer for Los Angeles County. "We cannot stand still while the entertainment industry, headquartered in our own backyard, promotes an addictive product that helps kill millions of people worldwide."
WHO also announced today that next year's World No-Tobacco Day will focus on smoking in the movies. "Hollywood's global reach is only part of the picture," said Subramaniam. "The world's largest film industry - India's Bollywood - must also take responsibility for promoting a product that kills one in two regular users."
Over the next 10 years, more than 50 million people worldwide will die of tobacco-related diseases: heart disease, emphysema and cancer. This year in the U.S., tobacco use will kill more women and men than AIDS, drunk driving, illegal drugs, homicide and suicide combined.