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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO NATIONAL EDITORS:
Legacy: 44 Percent Of Adolescents Who Start Smoking Do So Because Of
Smoking Images They Have Seen In The Movies
WASHINGTON, March 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As viewers around
the world prepare to tune in for Sunday's 86th annual Academy Awards
honoring achievements in the film industry, the public health
community is drawing attention to new data concluding that by
eliminating tobacco imagery in youth-rated movies, youth smoking rates
could decline by an estimated 18 percent.
Incidents of smoking in youth-rated films have doubled between 2010
and 2012, returning to levels of a decade ago. In fact, according to
Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! two of the three PG-13 movies (Captain
Phillips, Philomena) that are nominated for Best Picture this year
include smoking. Large-scale studies have demonstrated that movies
with smoking cause youth to start smoking, and this rebound represents
a set-back for national youth tobacco prevention goals.
According to research funded by Legacy, in 2013 youth-rated movies
delivered an estimated 14.8billion tobacco impressions to theater
audiences, a 169 percent increase from 2010. (Impressions are tobacco
incidents multiplied by number of tickets sold per film.) Actions that
would eliminate the depiction of tobacco use in movies, which are
produced and rated as appropriate for children and adolescents, could
have a significant effect on preventing youth from becoming tobacco
users.
Released in January, the US Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and
Health warned that unless we increase the efforts we know work and
continue to utilize new ones, 5.6 million kids alive today will die
prematurely from smoking. The report also found that, "youth who are
exposed to images of smoking in the movies are more likely to smoke;
those who get the most exposure to onscreen smoking are about twice as
likely to begin smoking as those who get the least exposure."
"As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General's
report on tobacco, it is time we prevent kids from being bombarded by
images of smoking in the movies," said Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant
Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human
Services. "Reducing smoking and tobacco use in youth-oriented movies
will help save lives, money, and years of suffering from preventable
smoking-related chronic diseases."
Tobacco remains the number 1 preventable cause of death in this
country, impacting millions of families, hurting communities and
costing the nation more than $289 Billion each year. The problem of
smoking in movies is a top public health priority, as the U.S. Surgeon
General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services have all emphasized the
importance of reducing youth exposure to on-screen smoking.
Cigarette advertising has been banned on television and radio since
1970, when Congress passed The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act.
Yet, smoking imagery remains widespread in movies including movies
with large youth audiences. Despite restrictions on tobacco
advertising to youth, young people are still exposed to frequent, and
often glamorous smoking imagery, which in turn influences them to
model the behavior of actors and celebrities.
"Every major Hollywood studio has proven in the past that they can
eliminate smoking from PG and PG-13 movies," said David Dobbins, Chief
Operating Officer at Legacy. "It is time for these studios to step up
and protect young audiences permanently through the use of a uniform,
industry-wide R rating policy for all movies that depict smoking."
Every day in the United States approximately 3,200 youth under 18
smoke their first cigarette, and more than 900 become daily cigarette
smokers. Movies may be more powerful than traditional tobacco ads. The
more smoking that youth see in movies, the more likely they are to
smoke. This explosion in on-screen smoking puts hundreds of thousands
of young Americans at risk of addiction, disease and premature death.
"It's time for the Motion Picture Association of America to accept the
overwhelming evidence that onscreen smoking causes kids to smoke and
modernizes its rating system to award an R-rating to movies that
depict smoking," said Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine
at the University of California, San Francisco. "That would reverse
the increases in smoking imagery in the movies rated for youth and
prevent thousands of more kids from starting to smoke," Glantz added.
Legacy helps people live longer, healthier lives by building a world
where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Legacy's
proven-effective and nationally recognized public education programs
include truth@, the national youth smoking prevention campaign that
has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth
smoking; EX@, an innovative public health program designed to speak to
smokers in their own language and change the way they approach
quitting; and research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences
and approaches to reducing tobacco use. Located in Washington, D.C.,
the foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master
Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46
states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. To learn more
about Legacy's life-saving programs, visit www.LegacyForHealth.org .
Follow us on Twitter @legacyforhealth and Facebook
www.Facebook.com/Legacy .
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101101/DC86294LOGO
SOURCE Legacy
-0- 03/02/2014
/CONTACT: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596 jcartwright@legacyforhealth.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101101/DC86294LOGO
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
/Web Site: http://www.americanlegacy.org
CO: Legacy
ST: District of Columbia
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SU: SVY CHI
PRN
-- DC74742 --
0000 03/02/2014 11:05:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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