1 Endorse Smokefree Movies goals | Here’s a powerful way to push your organization’s pro-child, pro-health agenda. Join dozens of other state and national organizations endorsing Smokefree Movie policy goals.
2 Address movies in state health strategy | Most states have public health strategies. Make sure your state's strategy addresses smoking on screen — the last unrestricted channel for recruiting kids to smoke.
3 Spark a youth movement | California, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont and other states have made Smokefree Movies a centerpiece of their youth anti-tobacco work. It’s an intuitive topic with rock-solid science and a high-profile target. Smokefree movie campaigns help inoculate kids — and communities — against tobacco promotion.
4 State Attorneys General are key | State AGs insisted that the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement bar domestic tobacco companies from placing their brands in entertainment media accessible to kids. They have been enforcing that agreement ever since. Since 2003, dozens of state attorneys general have pressed Hollywood to get smoking out the movies that kids see most. Support the attorneys general already engaged and encourage all to join them. Learn more.
5 End state tax credits for smoking movies | States now offer hundreds of millions of dollars a year in tax credits to movie producers. Together, the most active states spend as much to make movies with smoking as they invest in tobacco prevention. States routinely deny subsidies to pornography, political commercials and other media content. The US CDC says states can harmonize state film subsidies and public health imperatives by making media productions with tobacco imagery ineligible, too. Learn more.
6 Know your state’s film industry | A dozen theater chains own most movie screens. Their corporate headquarters are scattered across the country. In addition, studio production facilities (soundstages) are sited strategically to reap different states' film production subsidies. Learn the film industry players in your state and their role in exposing kids to smoking on screen.
7 Track lobbyists and money | Who represents the tobacco and film industries in your state capital? In some states, like California, it’s the same lobbying firm. Check your state’s lobbyist registry and sites like opensecrets.org for political spending by the tobacco and 'motion picture production and distribution' sectors.
Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)
MSA (1998). Section III(e): Prohibition on payments related to tobacco products and media