News | Opinion
2018
A report says shows on streaming services depict lots of smoking, but what can be done?
Alia Stearns | Uproxx (25 May 2018)
Obviously, the industry is aware of the problem, so what’s left but for them to do something about it?
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Hollywood and Big Tobacco
Stanton Glantz | San Francisco Chronicle (1 May 2018)
Fox was the studio closest to Big Tobacco...Last year, Fox Searchlight Pictures released a biopic of Billie Jean King, who served on Philip Morris’ board for five years. Philip Morris used women’s tennis to push Virginia Slims to young women.
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Can movie ratings really stop teens from smoking?
Dorri Olds | The Fix (12 Jan 2018)
“Tobacco companies used to pay studios, directors [and] actors for product placement on the screen,” said [Erika] Sward [of the American Lung Association]. “We know that was one of the ways that the tobacco industry directly marketed their products, many of which were aimed at young people. That was prior to the Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco companies in 1998, but we still do see a great deal of tobacco use in the movies and on screen. It was way back in 1964 [that] the Surgeon General concluded that smoking causes lung cancer.”
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2017
Dear Hollywood: Smoking deserves an 'R' rating
Nancy Brown | Huffington Post (20 Sep 2017)
Movies are entertainment, an escape from reality. The best films make us laugh and cry; we come away feeling more alive. Yet the facts show that movies can lead to real deaths, too. So to everyone in Hollywood involved in the ratings system, the choice is yours. Which side do you want to be on?
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American Cancer Society, public health groups call forR rating
| Healio (6 Sep 2017)
“Most smokers are enticed into nicotine addiction as children, and the American film industry must take assertive action now to ensure that our kids are not lured into using this uniquely lethal product by depictions of smoking in major motion pictures," said Gary Reedy, CEO of the American Cancer Society.
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When A-list celebrities become unpaid spokespeople for the tobacco industry
Robin Koval | PR Week (8 Aug 2017)
The fashion and entertainment industries seem stubbornly and dangerously stuck in the past as they fall back on old stereotypes, says Truth Initiative's CEO.
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India: Films that show drinking to be certified as 'A'
Rakesh Mehar | The News Minute (26 Jul 2017)
Since Pahlaj Nihalani took over as chief of [India's] Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC), it seems that not a week goes by without the board creating some new controversy. The latest controversial proposal from the CBFC is to certify a film as 'Adult' if it has characters lighting up a cigarette or drinking on screen.
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Princess Leia ultimately killed by the real Darth Vader
Stuart Kreisman | Vancouver (BC) Sun (3 Jan 2017)
The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that...simple movie ratings changes could reduce the number of teen smokers by nearly one in five (18 per cent), and prevent one million deaths from smoking among U.S. children alive today. In Canada, the ratings systems are even worse, with 86 per cent of movies featuring tobacco use being youth-rated
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2016
Guest op-ed: A smoke-free scene
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams | Brooklyn Reporter (17 Nov 2016)
The solution is an “R” rating for all movies that contain tobacco imagery. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that giving an “R” rating to future movies with tobacco would be expected to reduce the number of teen smokers by nearly one in five and prevent one million deaths from smoking among children alive today.
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In the fight against tobacco, advocates shouldn't send free speech up in smoke
Alyssa Rosenberg | The Washington Post (11 May 2016)
The debate about smoking and the movies raises important questions about the history of government regulation of the movies, the ability of an industry to regulate itself, and the best ways to advocate for changes to what we see on our movie screens.
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