Film editors literally make the movie, selecting the best takes and “connecting the shots” to make the narrative we see on screen. To grasp their contribution, turn off the sound on a hectic action scene and remember that every angle was laboriously plotted, photographed and rephotographed out of sequence over several days, and delivered to the editor weeks or months later.

When a tobacco brand appears on screen, the director specifically wanted it there. To be legible to audiences, the pack or signage must be at the correct angle, well lighted and in focus. It’s up to the film’s editor keep the branding on screen long enough to register.

The same attention to detail could be paid to keeping tobacco brands out of the shot, de-emphasizing smoking or eliminating it entirely. Why isn’t it?

In the table below, we list editors of more than fifty films that displayed one or more tobacco brands since 2004. Marlboro, which claims the largest market share, is also the most common pack on screen. Tobacco brands are featured in one out of eight films with smoking, a rate unchanged since 2000. One-third of films with tobacco brand appearences from 2004 through 2008 (21/62) were youth-rated.