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Smoke
Free Movies has launched a series of print advertisements
in Variety and other publications. This advertisement
first ran on September 1, 2009.
One
in a Series
Surprising
news about black hats and smoking.
Guys
in white hats. Guys in black hats.
Which ones recruit the most kids to smoke?
Researchers
who followed the movie-viewing and smoking behavior
of more than 4,500 American teens for two years discovered
that episodes of bad guys smoking exerted a heavier
influence on young viewers to smoke than episodes of
good guys smoking.
Bad
guys in a movie were also more likely to smoke than
good guys were. But the good guys outnumbered the bad
guys, by nearly 5 to 1. Most on-screen smokers turned
out to be good guys.
Overall,
considering teens’ higher exposure to good guy
smokers but stronger influence from bad guy smokers,
white hats and black hats are about equally responsible
for addicting kids.
These
results may be surprising. After all, you work hard
to create vivid, original characters. Why should a single
detail — smoking — leave a deeper mark on
kids’ lives than the story you wanted to tell?
Of
course, if you can easily imagine how both good guys
and bad guys can attract 15-year-olds to smoke, you’re
probably a pretty good filmmaker.
Instead
of using your imagination to put smoking in a movie,
use it to keep smoking out of youth-rated films entirely.
Not
a bad day’s work, avoiding cliché.
Read
the full study on good guy-bad-guy smoking, published
in Pediatrics this summer: www.SmokeFreeMovies.ucsf.edu/character_study
Smoke
Free Movies
Smoking
in movies kills in real life. Smoke Free Movie policies
—the R-rating, certification of no payoffs, anti-tobacco
spots, and an end to brand display — are endorsed
by the World Health Organization, American Medical Association,
AMA Alliance, American Academy of Pediatrics, American
Heart Association, American Legacy Foundation, American
Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights,
American Public Health Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids, LA County Dept. of Health Services, New York State
Dept. of Health, New York State PTA, and many others.
Visit our web site or write: Smoke Free Movies, UCSF
School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390.
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