Tobacco Use in Movies Increased, Kids Smokers

Onscreen tobacco use increased by 34% per movie last year in films targeted at children and teens, according to a new study. Researchers say the dramatic rise in smoking scenes in top-grossing U.S. movies with a G, PG, or PG-13 rating ends five years of steady decline in onscreen tobacco use. “The growth in onscreen tobacco use in 2011 reversed years of progress toward tobacco-free youth-rated movies,” write researcher Stanton Glantz, PhD, of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in Preventing Chronic Disease. Studies have shown exposure to onscreen smoking encourages young people to start smoking. Reducing youth exposure to tobacco use in movies is a goal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In the study, researchers counted use or implied use of a tobacco product by actors in movies with a box office gross that ranked in the top 10 for at least one week in 2011. The results showed the total instances of tobacco use, almost exclusively smoking, rose by 7% per movie from 2010 to 2011. Tobacco incidents rose by 34% in movies rated G, PG, or PG-13, and by 7% in movies rated R. The biggest increase in onscreen tobacco use was in movies aimed at the youngest audiences. The average number of tobacco incidents per movie rated G and PG rose by 311% in 2011, up from less than one smoking scene per movie to more than three.