Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today sent a letter to Netflix, urging the company to take steps to decrease young people’s exposure to tobacco, nicotine, and vaping imagery in video content.
News
Displaying 1 - 30 of 520
The Sydney Morning Herald
Once the epitome of Hollywood glamour, cigarettes were all but snuffed out in films and TV shows by the turn of the millennium. Now they’re making a comeback. Plot-driven or something more sinister?
D1SoftballNews
Colin Farrell unsuccessfully fought for The Penguin to smoke in "The Batman" despite Warner's ban on smoking in youth-rated movies.
Geek Tyrant
Warner did not allow Colin Farrell to smoke as The Penguin in "The Batman"
Truth Initiative
This year’s Oscar nominations, including PG-13 rated West Side Story and its onscreen smoking, come at a time when tobacco in movies remains a pervasive problem. More than a third — 38% — of top newly released movies in 2020 depicted tobacco, according to an analysis by the independent research institution NORC at the University of Chicago that is included in the latest Truth Initiative report on tobacco imagery in entertainment.
The Guardian (Nigeria)
A Non-Governmental organisation (NGO), Smoke-Free Nollywood, and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), have launched a digital media campaign to discourage smoking scenes in home movies watched by children.
USA Today
It’s no surprise that 2020 was a big year for streaming — in a scary, unprecedented year, entertainment provided viewers with a source of escape and comfort while staying at home. But a new report from Truth Initiative, an anti-smoking group, says that watching some of the year’s biggest TV shows, movies and music videos also exposed young people to frequent scenes of smoking and vaping imagery, which studies have proven increases the likelihood of them trying some form of tobacco.
New York Times
One aspect of Cruella’s look that didn’t make the leap to live action was her iconic cigarette holder. Was that one of those things that doesn’t quite feel family-friendly anymore?
That is not allowed in 2021. [Laughs.] We are not allowed to smoke onscreen in a Disney film. It was difficult to not have that cigarette holder.
But did you feel, spiritually, that you were still brandishing a long cigarette holder?
Yes! I was so excited to have that green plume of smoke in there, but it was not possible. I don’t want to promote smoking, but I’m also not trying to promote skinning puppies.
People
"I don't want to promote smoking, but I'm also not trying to promote skinning puppies," Emma Stone joked of her character
Variety
If there’s one thing Cruella de Vil likes, it’s stealing puppies. If there are two things Cruella de Vil likes, it’s stealing puppies and taking drags from her opera-length cigarette holder. Yet the infamous Disney villain is ditching her favorite accessory in the upcoming film “Cruella,” which stars Emma Stone and centers on the early life of the notorious fur-obsessed antihero.
The Tide
As more youths take to smoking cigarettes, a civil society organisation (CSO) Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Thursday, demanded a total ban on smoking in Nollywood movies as they directly and indirectly, advertise products of Tobacco Companies. This was stated by the Executive Director CAPPA, Akinbode Ohiwafemi, at a media briefing held in Abuja. He said tobacco companies in Nigeria have over the years exploited the entertainment industry, films and music videos to entice and force young Nigerians into smoking tobacco without telling them the health dangers that could kill them and jeopardise their future.
USA Today
When young viewers see smoking on television, it can increase the likelihood they will try e-cigarettes, according to a first-of-its-kind study, part of a new report on tobacco and smoking imagery on TV…[The Truth Initiative report] also finds tobacco and smoking depictions in the most popular shows for young people appear to be rising since the group's first While You Were Streaming reports in 2018 and 2019.
Truth Initiative
Exposure to smoking imagery through episodic [TV] programming triples a young person’s chances of vaping initiation.
The New York Times
Hollywood has been unable to restart production on its own soundstages in California because of surging infections in the state, plodding negotiations with unions over protocols and the time it takes to get test results. So big movie studios, under pressure to get their production assembly lines running again, have focused on overseas shooting. The “Avatar” sequels are filming again in New Zealand. Sony Pictures has “Uncharted,” its adaptation of a popular video game, going in Berlin.
Stanford Medicine
Among young people who were tested for the virus that causes COVID-19, the research found that those who vaped were five to seven times more likely to be infected than those who did not use e-cigarettes.
San Francisco Chronicle
Smoking was the most common risk factor for severe COVID-19 complications among otherwise largely healthy young people, the study found.
Research Matters
Currently, government intervention in regulating digital content is still minimal. “There is a lack of a governing or certifying body or even a law to regulate the content shown in online platforms,” laments Dr Arora.
GhanaWeb
“Because we have banned tobacco advertisement, promotion and sponsorship, the tobacco industry may hide behind the movie industry, brand or social media influencers to indirectly advertise or promote their products. So we expect that anti-tobacco messages are run in movies that depict scenery of tobacco use to also inform or educate the viewers on the harmful effects of tobacco use,” [FDA official Olivia Agyekumwaa Boateng] added.
Livemint
Researchers from US-based Vital Strategies and Imperial College, London, analysed 300 films from 1994 to 2013, and found that 93% of them had at least one depiction of booze usage, 70% had at least one of tobacco, and 21% of branded fast food. The average movie featured tobacco products four times, alcohol seven times, and the third of those bad habits a little less than half a time.
Livemint
Hindi film industry (Bollywood), in the last two decades, has exposed audience including children to tobacco, alcohol and consumption of fast-food in its films, watching which is associated with initiation of their consumption, a research published in scientific journal PLOS One has stated. The research comes at a time when covid-19 pandemic has led to a surge in media consumption as people sit home and spend more time on their screens for entertainment and games.
The Sunday Mail (Australia)
…And there are calls from Quit Victoria to give movies and TV shows depicting smoking higher classifications and include clear, upfront warnings.
HRIDAY (India)
A study in India of tobacco content in streaming content popular with urban adolescents and young adults (15-24) found that seven in ten of the video series featured smoking. Four of the seven series with smoking showcased actual tobacco brands, including Camel, Salem, Newport and Marlboro. None of the series with smoking (including from Netflix and Amazon) comply with India's rules requiring health warnings and other protective measures. Peer-reviewed abstract of original research at https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2020/03/09/tobaccocontrol-2019-055360.full.
Nielsen
We also saw streaming of non-linear content increase across all age groups in Nielsen’s 56 largest metered markets during March 2020. With most schools closed across the country, younger demographics experienced the largest growth, with more than 60% increases between the weeks of March 2 and March 23 across all markets. Among persons 2+ streaming increased 57% in Local People Meter (LPM) markets and 46% in Set-Meter markets. And persons 25-54 showed similar gains.
Insider
We traced Morley back to some of its earliest appearances in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and "The Twilight Zone," to "The X-Files," "Friends," and even a 2020 episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." We also spoke to a film professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television to see why the popular fake brand is so significant in the history of entertainment.
[Editor's note: This report says that a study found that villains do most of the smoking on screen. The only peer-reviewed study we know of, on this question, found that good guy smokers outnumber bad guy smokers, but that bad guy smokers are somewhat more influential on teens — so, overall, good guys and bad guy smokers account for equal harm. See:
Tanski SE, Stoolmiller M, Dal Cin S, Worth K. Movie character smoking and adolescent smoking: Who matters more, good guys or bad guys? Pediatrics. 2009;124(1): 135–143. July 2009.
BMJ
Stronger enforcement needed, while WHO guidelines should be updated, say researchers.
NYU
[The authors] found that, in every aspect studied, the influence of tobacco and alcohol advertising on teens were analogous. For instance, both tobacco and alcohol companies have used mascots in advertisements (e.g., Joe Camel, the Budweiser frogs), which research shows are easily recognized and trusted by children. In addition, both tobacco and alcohol companies use or have used movies, television, and sporting events as opportunities for advertising and product placement, with studies showing that exposure to smoking and drinking increases the risk for youth initiation.
TheNews.com
Islamabad:The Directorate of Tobacco Control of the Ministry of National Health Services has directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to instruct all television channels to immediately cleanse their dramas and programmes of smoking scenes that lure young people towards tobacco use, and to instead consider telecasting public service messages against smoking, which kills 166,000 people in Pakistan each year. [Note: Pakistan, a party to WHO's binding global tobacco control treaty, joins China, India and others opposing youth exposure to tobacco promotion in commercial entertainment media.]
CNBC
[R]esearcher Robert Marich said in an interview with CNBC's "American Greed." "It … depends on the stomach of the voters to essentially subsidize an industry and lower taxes for a certain select industry, which means essentially raising taxes for everyone else."
Reader's Digest
That popular "three things are banned" rumor certainly doesn't hold up for some of Disney's major franchise properties.