"It is important to know as much as possible about teenage smoking patterns and attitudes. Today's teenager is tomorrow's potential regular customer . . . 1981 Philip Morris market research report on young smokers. . : . Each day, about 4,000 kids try their first cigarette; and each day another 1,000 other kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers. Thats 416,000 new underage daily smokers each year. . : . 90 percent of all adult smokers begin while in their teens, or earlier, and nearly two-thirds become regular, daily smokers before they reach the age of 19. . : . The cigarette companies spend more than $15.1 billion each year to promote their deadly products that's more than $41 million spent every day to market cigarettes, and much of that marketing directly reaches and influences kids. . : . More than 6.3 million children under age 18 alive today will eventually die from smoking-related disease, unless current rates are reversed. Source: CDC, State Highlights 2006. . : . 440,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses every year, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

The Solution


1) Certify No Pay-Offs

We are asking producers to include in their closing credits, a line that states: “No person or entity involved in this motion picture accepted anything from any tobacco company, its agents or fronts.”  According to the MSA, for tobacco industries to PAY to be in a movie is illegal.


2) Require anti-smoking ads

We would like the theaters to run anti-tobacco slide before all movies that have smoking in them to counter the impact of smoking in the film. We want the ad to also be added to newly-release videos and DVDs of smoking in films.


3) Stop Identifying Brands

We feel strongly that there should be no tobacco brand identification in movies. Example: Men in Black we see the worm guys with Marlboro cigarettes. Seeing  BRANDS of cigarettes being used by stars sends a message to kids that not only smoking is cool, but certain brands are more popular than others.


R Rating 4) Rate New Smoking Movies “R”

Expect in the rare instance that it is an actual historical figure (Ray Charles) who smokes or smoking shows the reality of death and suffering caused by tobacco, all new movies with smoking and tobacco display should receive an R rating.

These solutions will reduce the amount of smoking in the movies teens see by over 60%. It will also help parents protect children from smoking promotion when choosing movies or videos. 


We know that tobacco is a legal product. But movies already consider foul language, fighting and nudity to be a reason to rate a movie R, so we want Hollywood to consider tobacco too.



You can be Part of the Solution:

 

Click here to send letter to Dan Glickman, President of the MPAA and demand that smoking be eliminated from G, PG and PG-13 movies.

Click here to send an email to Reality Check to have them come to your organization and present the initiative for you to help you get more involved.


For more useful links go to:

 

http://www.exposebigtobacco.com/movies.html



http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/index.html











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