Tobacco Industry Placed Products In Youth Films ‘Muppet Movie,’ ‘Roger Rabbit’ Among Films Featuring Smoking By Characters

The cigar that juts from the mouth of Orson Welles as he eyes Kermit the Frog in the “The Muppet Movie,” a children’s film, may have been a gift from Philip Morris.

The tobacco company supplied “The Muppet Movie” filmmakers with tobacco products, according to newly released internal company documents.

Similar deals were made for “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” “Die Hard,” “Crocodile Dundee” and dozens of other films that, despite being rated PG or R, had huge youth audiences.

The arrangements continued through at least 1988 despite pledges by the film industry not to deal with tobacco companies. Philip Morris has long said it does not target children, but critics believe that deals like these have helped the company circumvent legal bans against such advertising.

“We know the cigarette companies deny paying to have their brand name appear. They deny advertising to kids. But they get the cigarettes in the movies,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco who has studied smoking in films. “A kid coming away from the movies today will have the impression that everyone smokes.”

“The Muppet Movie” deal raises eyebrows because it is a movie clearly for children. The 1979 film chronicles Kermit the Frog’s journey from the swamp to Hollywood. All the main characters - Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great - are colorful puppets. Cigars appear in the mouths of three human characters: a bartender, a used-car salesman, and the Hollywood mogul played by Welles.

The Muppet characters are now owned by the Disney Motion Pictures Group, and officials there refused to comment on use of tobacco in “The Muppet Movie.” They did say the company currently has a policy against contracting with the tobacco industry to showcase its products.

The documents detailing the Philip Morris movie deals were among millions released during the state of Minnesota’s ongoing lawsuit against the tobacco industry. They do not prove that the filmmakers would not have used tobacco on screen without the agreement with Philip Morris. They do show, however, that Philip Morris supplied the filmmakers with tobacco products.

The disclosure comes at a time when Congress is trying to figure out how to best prevent children from smoking, as part of a settlement with the tobacco industry.

“Surely no member of Congress could possibly vote to provide lawsuit immunity to Big Tobacco after this,” said Brian McQuade, executive director of the Coalition for Workers’ Health Care Funds, which is seeking to recover money from the tobacco industry.

Restricting advertising, most legislators say, is crucial to combating tobacco use by youths. Smoking on the silver screen may render ad restrictions moot.

“You can’t dictate to studios that they can’t put cigarettes in movies,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the leader of the Senate’s tobacco efforts. “But maybe we can do away with the obscene practice of compensation for placement of cigarettes in movies.”

The major Hollywood studios refused to comment on any product placement deals. They all said policies against contracting with the tobacco industry have been in place since the early 1980s.

A Philip Morris representative said: “We do not pay for product placement.” But the Philip Morris documents clearly show that arrangements between Philip Morris and Hollywood continued well into 1988, after the movie industry instituted bans.

“Cigarette placement was done. Sure. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be,” said the head of a product placement firm who asked that her name not be used.

Product placement, which provides widespread exposure for a product in exchange for money or free supplies of the product, has become a thriving business. Dozens of firms represent corporate America dealing with Hollywood to place everything from cars to candy on screen.

The Philip Morris documents show arrangements in “Jaws II,” “Grease,” “Rocky II,” “Blade Runner,” “Mr. Mom,” “Crocodile Dundee,” “Robocop,” “Die Hard,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and “Field of Dreams.”