Word on the street is that smoking in movies is causing teens to be more likely to light up themselves. In a report issued Thursday by the National Cancer Institute ads for smoking and depictions of smoking in film make teens more likely to smoke. The report also countered the tobacco industry's claims that the $13 billion (yes, billion, when we have people starving to death on the streets and can't pay our mortgages) spent on promotion was to increase brand loyalty. Rather, according to the report, the only thing it increased was someone's chances of smoking--especially if that person was a teenager.
The report considered over 1,000 studies of how media impacts use of tobacco. It also noted that three fourths of recent hit films contained smoking, and that particular brands were easily identified in a third of the films. Perhaps as a preemptive strike six of the major movie studios recently claimed they would add anti-smoking ads to the DVD versions of their films. This of course has little bearing on the teen who sees the film in the theater, where there will be no such warning (only that smoking is not allowed in theaters).
According to Dr. Janet Collins, who runs the chronic disease prevention and health promotion at the U.S. Center for Disease Control, smoking, tobacco use, the promotion of both, etc. is "an assault on the nation's health." The report, whose findings she supports, was issued in a timely fashion: the Senate vote to give the FDA control over tobacco regulation.
1. If you are appalled at how much is spent on advertising, just look at the hundreds of billion dollars being spent on the war. D:
Posted at 3:47PM on Aug 24th 2008 by mimi