Fewer films show smoking scenes

ATLANTA – Three film companies have drastically reduced smoking in their movies aimed at children and teens, thanks in part to their policies to reduce on-screen tobacco use, a new study says.

Over the past five years, scenes involving tobacco dropped from an average of 23 to one per film for those companies and most of their youth movies had no smoking at all, the researchers reported Thursday. At movie makers without such policies, the decline was less – from an average of 18 to 10 incidents per film.

Movies are seen as very influential for kids and teens, and studies have found that sway extends to early decisions about whether to use tobacco.

Health advocates and some doctors’ groups have been pushing the film industry to reduce smoking in films. They have taken to watching top-grossing films and counting the number of scenes in which characters smoke, chew tobacco, hold a pack of cigarettes or in which tobacco use is otherwise implied.

Last year, only about 45 percent of top-grossing movies had tobacco scenes, compared to 67 percent in in 2005, according to the new research.

The study, which focused on youth-rated films, looked at the three companies with policies to reduce smoking: Time Warner (Warner Bros.); Comcast (Universal and Focus Features); and the Walt Disney Company (Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Pixar and Buena Vista.)

Tobacco scenes declined by about 96 percent in those companies’ films over the last five years, and most of the youth-rated films had no smoking at all.