Study Offers Proof That Smoking in Movies Influences Children
by AFA Journal
August 29, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Hollywood moguls often claim that the behaviors portrayed in their movies -- such as illicit sex, profanity, or alcohol and drug abuse -- don't influence the viewer in any way. But a new study suggests those moguls may be mistaken. According to a study by the American Legacy Foundation and Dartmouth Medical School, "From 1999 through 2005, 76% of U.S. live-action movies rated PG-13 and 40% rated G or PG featured tobacco imagery. Over that time the balance of on-screen tobacco incidents has shifted from R-rated into youth-related films."
The American Legacy Foundation says on its website that it is "dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco." That is why the group finds the new study so disturbing, because it says research "confirms the link between exposure to movie smoking and smoking among U.S. youth."
Read the study report: 'Trends in Top Box Office Movie Tobacco Use 1996-2004' [PDF]
The organization says, "That research indicated that 38% of youth smoking initiation can be directly traced to exposure to smoking in movies. In addition, children with the higher exposure to smoking in movies were found to be three times more likely to start smoking than those with the least exposure."
Dr. Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American Family Association, has long been critical of the entertainment industry's negative impact on families, and especially on children.
"This is further proof of the pervasive and powerful influence of the mass media," says Wildmon. "Hollywood needs to start considering the cost to our culture, specifically our youth, when films feed our kids a steady diet of filth and violence, and model harmful behavior as 'cool.'"
This article, printed with permission, appears in the September 2006 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
