Silver screen smoking is on the rise - Your Life - smoking in movies - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 2003

Although the number of American smokers has decreased over the past 20 years, the amount of onscreen puffing has increased, report Daniel Longo and Kevin Everett, professors of family and community medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia. After viewing the top-10 grossing movies from 1996 to 2001, they found that the actors' portrayals of tobacco use in a positive light occurred 83% of the time. Smoking was more evident in action movies as compared to other genres.

Longo theorizes that the increased use of tobacco in movies might be an effect of advertising limitations. "Things changed after the ruling that banned billboard and other types of tobacco advertising," he notes. "Tobacco companies couldn't advertise directly, but had the same advertising budget, so they have turned to different methods, such as product placement ment."

Product placement, or paying to have a product showcased in a film or television series, can be especially influential, Long fears. Unfortunately, popular culture, including the film industry, provides far more pro-tobacco than anti-tobacco messages. These messages are problematic as they have the potential to influence youth who are especially prone to such visual cues during a developmental stage when experimentation of tobacco and other substances is likely to occur."