Health Canada
The Influence of Smoking in Movies
The tobacco industry has a
long-standing alliance with Hollywood,
paying for product placement in movies.
According to the Smoke Free Movies project,
“film is better than any commercial that has
been run on television or in any magazine,
because the audience is totally unaware of
any sponsor involvement.” The tobacco
industry is desperate to keep their products
in movies since it was banned years ago
from other forms of advertising. This
influence remains strong, which is not
surprising when you consider the impact
Hollywood has on popular culture,
especially on youth.
There’s been much research in recent
years on the impact on youth when they see
someone smoking in a movie. The US
National Cancer Institute reviewed this data
in 2008 and found that youth were more
likely to start smoking after seeing smoking
in a movie. The results of four large studies
in the US cite that “44 per cent of youth
smoking can be attributed to on-screen
smoking exposure.” When you apply this to
Canadian content, Physicians for a
Smoke-free Canada estimate about “130,000
Canadians age 15 to 19 became addicted to
tobacco industry products due to exposure
to on-screen smoking, of whom 43,000 will
eventually die of tobacco-caused diseases.”
In 1998, US tobacco companies entered
into a legal agreement with the State
Attorneys General, which bans paid
placement of tobacco products in
entertainment accessible to young people.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) reports that “despite this
Go to
smokefreemovies.ca to
learn more about
taking tobacco off the
big screen!
prohibition, smoking in movies increased
from 1998 to 2005, especially in blockbuster
films.” More than half the films in Canada
with a 14A rating depict tobacco imagery
and brands. In 2011, tobacco was in 88 per
cent of the movies shown in Ontario that
were rated for children and teens.
Movies help the tobacco industry
recruit a new generation of customers but
there’s something we can do to change this.
We don’t want them to have any new
customers, especially our easily-influenced
youth. Not just because it’s illegal to sell
tobacco products to them but because these
products have such a negative effect on
everyone’s health.
A recent poll shows that 73 per cent of
adults in Ontario want movies that are rated
for children and teens to be smoke-fr