Truth Initiative warns of tobacco use in Oscar-nominated films

The US-based Truth Initiative recently warned that depictions of tobacco will remain the norm in Oscar-nominated films in 2022.[1], while established research shows that exposure to tobacco in movies can encourage young people to start smoking. The analysis highlights a troubling trend toward the renormalization and glamorization of tobacco use in entertainment media and pop culture.

Eight of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars and more than half (61%) of all feature films nominated for this year's Oscars contain tobacco imagery, including "West Side Story," "King Richard" and "Don't Look Up."

A renormalization of tobacco in cinema aimed at young people

An article from the Sydney Morning Herald[2] is also surprised by the return of smoking in movies and popular series on Netflix in recent years. The Matrix Resurrections, The Umbrella Academy, Law & Order: SVU, etc. are mentioned in particular. According to the article, tobacco use may seem plausible in movies/series set in the 1950s and 60s when 45% of the United States population were smokers, but smoking also appears in contemporary films, especially those aimed at children. A 2019 report from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of times tobacco use appeared on screen in films not recommended for children under 13 jumped by 120 % between 2010 and 2018[3]. According to the CDC, tobacco use in popular American movies jumped 57% between 2010 and 2018. Meanwhile, smoking rates in the United States declined from 19.3% in 2010 to 13.7% in 2018.

According to Truth Initiative, of the 2022 Oscar-nominated films that contain tobacco images, nearly 40% have a warning “unsuitable for children under 13.” This is particularly the case for Marvel Studios’ superhero film “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” or the latest Bond thriller “No Time to Die.”

A biased view of real tobacco consumption

The tobacco industry and film have been inextricably linked for generations. Since the advent of the talkie, tobacco companies have understood the power of film to shape cultural norms. A 1989 internal document from manufacturer Philip Morris compared the effectiveness of promotional materials and noted: "We believe that most of the strong, positive images around cigarettes and smoking are created by cinema and television." This same document underlinedt: "It is reasonable to think that films and personalities have more influence on consumers than a simple poster of a cigarette packet."

This marketing deployed in this way has helped to attract new consumers and conveys favorable representations of tobacco which remain strongly anchored in society.

Awareness-raising work on the world of cinema is necessary

Smoking, often portrayed as glamorous, remains ubiquitous on screen, even as numerous studies warn that exposure to these products can lead young people to start or continue smoking. The Truth Initiative and several other public health organizations recommend a series of measures to reduce youth exposure to tobacco in films. These include:

- raise awareness among screenwriters, directors, studios, producers and actors of the role that exposure to tobacco in films plays in the smoking rate among young people and encourage them not to include tobacco in their works;

- prohibit product placement through the visual and oral display and identification of tobacco brands in films;

- ensure that tobacco manufacturers and their representatives have not financed production companies in exchange for the use or presentation of tobacco products in films;

- require film studios to certify that no payment for brand placement took place at any time during production;

- disseminate warning and prevention messages about smoking based on proven, validated experiences from public education campaigns, in order to counterbalance the impact of tobacco images in a film;

- assign a “not recommended for at least” classification to all films that contain tobacco, unless the film clearly depicts the dangers and consequences of smoking or accurately depicts a real historical figure who actually used tobacco

Keywords: Cinema, Oscars, tobacco, series, films, Truth Initiative

©Tobacco Free Generation

AE

[1] Tobacco imagery lights up Oscar-nominated films, including 80% of Best Picture nominees, Truth Initiative, March 24, 2022, accessed March 25, 2022

[2] Tim Elliott, From the ashes: Smoking's curious comeback on the silver screen, The Sydney Morning Herald, March 18, 2022, accessed March 25, 2022

[3] Tynan MA, Polansky JR, Driscoll D, Garcia C, Glantz SA. Tobacco Use in Top-Grossing Movies—United States, 2010–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:974–978. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6843a4