ASH Australia media release

More Oscars for Big Tobacco

Smoking in movies rises to 1950s level: latest figures

“

Big tobacco is getting its best-ever box office exposure in blockbuster movies, says new research  – and films that glamourise smoking are set to win big at this year’s Academy Awards.

ASH Australia warns that without government intervention, the health of young people is at risk - with another 40,000 children joining the ranks of smokers every year.

A study published this month in the American Journal of Public Health*  shows the incidence of smoking scenes in randomly-selected movies, after falling in the early 80s, had risen again since the 1990s to levels observed in 1950 – when smoking rates were twice as high.

And the authors warn that “Particularly with the long shelf life that movies gain through television rebroadcast, videotape, and DVD, the pro-tobacco influence of the high smoking levels in recent movies will continue to be a pro-tobacco influence on teenagers for years to come unless remedial action is taken.”

Says Anne Jones, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia:
“Whilst smoking in films continues to rise, government funding of anti-smoking campaigns is too insignificant to make a difference.

“Smoking in films is on the rise - and new movies with excessive smoking, such as Oscar nominees Lost in Translation  and Mona Lisa Smile  are linking smoking with glamour, independence and success”, says Anne Jones.

Health groups are again calling on the Federal Government to counter the impact that celebrity smoking is having on young people, both on and off the screen by:

• amending the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act to ensure that inducements to promote tobacco products and smoking in films and other media are clearly illegal, with substantial penalties for breaches; and

• increasing funding for mass media campaigns to counter the rising glamourisation of smoking in films.

* Glantz SA et al (2004), “Back to the future: smoking in movies in 2002 compared with 1950 levels” in American Journal of Public Health 94(2):261-263

Comment:          Anne Jones        ph. (02) 9334-1876 or  0417-227-879

Media inquiries:         Stafford Sanders                 ph. (02) 9334-1823

Page last updated on 28/2/04