The World Health Organisation has today released a statement encouraging governments around the globe to treat films that contain scenes of smoking alongside those that feature nudity and graphic violence, in the hopes that this will prevent minors being influenced to try tobacco products.
Studies found that in 2014, smoking was present in 44% of all Hollywood films, with over a third of these rated suitable for children. These figures represent a worrying level of exposure and normalisation of tobacco products, despite cinema being one of the last channels that the presence of cigarettes is not majorly restricted.
“Smoking in films can be a strong form of promotion for tobacco products.” explains Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHOs’ Director for the Department of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases.
Also in 2014, the US Surgeon General stated that introducing adult ratings for films featuring scenes of smoking would have an impact on reducing the smoking rates amongst young people by a massive 20%, and could save around 1 million lives from tobacco-related deaths in the future.
Currently, the World Health Organisation’s report does not mention e-cigarettes in their film age limit proposal, although research has highlighted that many Big Tobacco companies are using films to promote their electronic products under the same brand as the tobacco alternatives, which is something that will need to be taken into consideration by the authorities.
