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Exposure to smoking imagery through episodic [TV] programming triples a young person’s chances of vaping initiation.

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.

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.

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.

Smoking was the most common risk factor for severe COVID-19 complications among otherwise largely healthy young people, the study found.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

…And there are calls from Quit Victoria to give movies and TV shows depicting smoking higher classifications and include clear, upfront warnings.

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.

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.

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.

Stronger enforcement needed, while WHO guidelines should be updated, say researchers.

[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.

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.]

[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."

That popular "three things are banned" rumor certainly doesn't hold up for some of Disney's major franchise properties.

…the e-cigarette industry knows that 50 years of proving smoking causes cancer means little to an 18-year-old who doesn’t know what Vietnam was. Not to mention that smoking in movies — a topic I worked on with Vice President Gore in the ’90s — has actually gotten worse since then.

Tide Pod shout-outs onscreen. Flirtatious exchanges with companies on Twitter. Netflix may not run ads, but it has become a coveted marketing platform. [See Smokefree Movies' blog on cigarette brand display in Netflix' TV-14 "Stranger Things" fantasy series, at https://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/blog/its-time-get-tobacco-brands-screen and our detailed September 2019 ad at https://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/sfm-ads/ad-131. — Editor]

After admitting to chain-smoking, ['Joker' director Todd] Phillips noted that his nicotine habit paled in comparison to that of [Joaquin] Phoenix, who “smokes more than Humphrey Bogart.” “I used to Juul, and I had to stop Juul-ing before I directed because I knew I wouldn’t stop,” interjected [director Greta] Gerwig, referring to the vape device. “I knew I’d be talking to an actor and Juul-ing the whole time.”

Despite the U.S. Surgeon General’s conclusion that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in movies and the initiation of smoking among young persons, on-screen smoking in movies is still increasing.

One of the CDC recommendations is giving movies with tobacco incidents an R rating to eliminate tobacco product imagery from youth-rated films.

China has vowed to clamp down on films and TV series that have 'too many' smoking scenes in a bid to keep its youngsters away from cigarettes. The country's central government has ordered its entertainment censors to increase its screening efforts on productions that show their characters puffing away. SFM note: The Nov. 7. 2019, policy interpretation breaks no new ground in discouraging on-screen smoking. What's new is that it positions smokefree media as part of China's major multi-sectoral, teen-centered tobacco control initiative. For an initial translation, see: http://bit.ly/chinapolicy-110719

This is a hugely discouraging finding. As the CDC researchers point out, research has shown that the more often young people are exposed to onscreen images of smoking, the greater the likelihood they will take up smoking themselves.

Despite a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in movies and initiation, smoking in film is steadily increasing...

A new government study reveals tobacco use in PG-13 movies has increased 120% over the past decade. The large majority of those scenes were in biographical dramas, but most characters who actually used tobacco were fictional. The Surgeon General has said watching smoking in movies may lead youth to begin smoking themselves.

The number of times tobacco use appeared on-screen in PG-13 films jumped 120% between 2010 and 2018, according to a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The findings come as skyrocketing e-cigarette use erased previous years' progress in ending youth dependence on tobacco.

The new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that while the share of top movies that showed tobacco product use remained level in recent years, there was a 57% increase in "tobacco incidents" in those films, driven largely by a 120% spike in PG-13 movies.

Trends like these are important, Tynan and colleagues said, because "the Surgeon General has concluded that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in movies and initiation of smoking among young persons."