Smoking in the Movies
The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) prohibits tobacco companies from paying to place their products in movies. Despite legally binding pledges from tobacco companies to stop paying cash for brand placement, tobacco brands still appear in movies and portrayals of smoking in Hollywood movies have doubled over the last ten years. In the past five years, almost three-quarters of movies rated G, PG, and PG-13 included smoking.

Portrayals of tobacco use in movies promote the same themes as other tobacco advertising: rebellion, independence, sexiness, wealth, power and celebration. Rarely do movies show negative depictions of tobacco use such as characters becoming ill from smoking, families suffering from secondhand smoke, or people complaining about the smell of smoke on their clothes when leaving a smoke-filled room.

Why should Hollywood kick the habit?
Teens exposed to a lot of smoking in movies are up to three times more likely to start smoking.
Teens are 2 times more likely to smoke when their favorite movie stars smoke on screen.
Movies recruit more new young smokers than all tobacco advertising.
Every dollar Hollywood takes in at the box office generates 34¢ in sales for the tobacco companies.

What can we do?
Sign the Global Petition

Write the president of the Motion Picture Association of America and ask him to implement the Recommendations of the “Smoke Free Movies” Campaign

Write to your favorite actors and tell them how you feel about seeing them smoke in movies.

Ask local theaters to run an anti-smoking ad before any movie that contains smoking.

Recommendations of the “Smoke Free Movies” Campaign
Rate New Smoking Movies "R"
Any film that shows or implies tobacco should be rated "R." The only exceptions should be when the presentation of tobacco clearly and unambiguously reflects the dangers and consequences of tobacco use or is necessary to represent smoking of a real historical figure.

Certify No Pay-Offs
The producers should post a certificate in the credits at the end of the movie declaring that nobody on the production received anything of value (cash money, free cigarettes or other gifts, free publicity, interest-free loans or anything else) from anyone in exchange for using or displaying tobacco.

Require Strong Anti-Smoking Ads
Studios and theaters should require a genuinely strong anti-smoking ad (not one produced by a tobacco company) to run before any film with any tobacco presence, regardless of its MPAA rating.

Stop Identifying Tobacco Brands
There should be no tobacco brand identification or the presence of tobacco brand imagery (such as billboards) in the background of any movie scene.

Learn more by clicking on PDF documents or links below.

Overview ........ Fact Sheet

Smoke Free Movies
http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu

Scenesmoking.org
http://scenesmoking.org

The Impact of Smoking in Movies
http://notobaccoads.org/asp_movies.asp