A new study reveals that the portrayal of tobacco use in youth-rated movies rose 34 percent between 2010 and 2011, ending a five-year downward trend. According to the study, movies with a rating of G, PG or PG-13 delivered 10.7 billion tobacco impressions, double the 2010 number of 5.5 billion. Numbers from Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!, a project of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails which counts occurrences of tobacco incidents in U.S. top-grossing movies yearly, were used to calculate trends. The authors of the study agree with health officials that state and local health departments should work with policymakers to make movie subsidy programs consistent with state’s interest in reducing rates of tobacco use among youth by limiting subsidy eligibility to tobacco-free productions. The authors also recommend a modernization of the Motion Picture Association of America rating system, giving movies with any tobacco use an R rating and creating a sustained, industrywide market incentive to keep movies that are marketed to youth tobacco-free. Click here for the full article.
