Cinema: the problematic exposure of young people to tobacco

The Surgeon General released a report in April 2019 on the changing portrayal of smoking in film productions and its impact on youth smoking.[1][2]. The report, highlighting the direct causal link between young people's exposure to smoking and adolescent consumption, studies the evolution of tobacco representation on screen in the United States. Among all films released in the United States between 2002 and 2018, 45% are considered not recommended for under-13s. If we look at films aimed at young people, the proportion of them without smoking scenes increased from 35% to 69%. However, the number of smoking incidents reached a historic level in 2018, with 34% additional occurrences compared to the previous year. This sharp increase has a direct consequence on young people's exposure to tobacco: in total, scenes depicting tobacco consumption were viewed 10,300 billion times by an audience aged under 13. It is thus demonstrated that the policies implemented by film companies are not sufficient on their own to resolve the problem of the presence of tobacco on screen. Other solutions exist, such as the classification of films in cinemas and the warning to minors concerning films containing scenes of tobacco consumption, as is done for scenes of violence, sex or use of other drugs. The report also proposes the creation of a certificate to prove that no payment from the tobacco industry has been received by producers and distributors, or to condition the allocation of public subsidies only to films not depicting tobacco consumption. ©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] Center for disease control and prevention, “Smoking in the movies,” April 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/youth_data/movies/index.htm | ©National Committee Against Smoking |