Smoking in films — especially kids movies — on the rise

The incidence of onscreen smoking in movies increased from 2010 to 2011, ending what had been a five-year decline, according to a new study published Thursday by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Many of the movies with significant amounts of smoking were youth-rated films, such as the animated film “Rango” (PG) and “X-Men: First Class” (PG-13). The study also found that film companies that have publicly declared their intentions to restrict smoking in youth-rated films were among the worst offenders.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, depictions of smoking in movies increases the likelihood that children watching those movies will take up the addictive habit themselves. “The reversal in the previous multiyear downward trend in onscreen tobacco use that occurred from 2005 to 2010 means that movies in 2011 contributed more to promoting youth smoking than in previous years and that the motion picture industry is no longer progressing toward the goal of reducing onscreen depictions of tobacco use,” conclude the authors of the new study. Study’s details For the study, trained monitors counted all incidents of tobacco use (or implied tobacco use, such as a lit cigarette) in 134 of the top-grossing films of 2011.

To be included, the films had to gross enough at the box office to be ranked as a top-10 film for at least a week. The monitors found that the total number of tobacco incidents in the top-grossing 2011 films totaled 1,881, up 62 from a similar counting done in 2010, despite there being five fewer films in the 2011 sample. Overall, the incidents-per-film increased an average of 7 percent, from 13.1 to 14.0. The incidents rose an average of 7 percent among R-rated films (from 26.0 to 27.8), 9 percent among PG-13-rated films (from 10.7 to 11.6), and a whopping 311 percent among G- and PG-rated films (from 0.8 to 3.2).

 Interestingly, the study found that increases in onscreen smoking were more likely in films made by companies with publicly announced policies aimed at discouraging (but not eliminating) smoking in their movies (Comcast, Disney and Time Warner) than in those without such policies (Viacom, Sony and News Corp). “Companies with policies on average had 7.6 more tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie in 2011 than in 2010, to average 8.5 incidents per movie in 2011, while companies without policies had 1.3 fewer incidents, to average 11.9 incidents per movie in 2011,” the study’s authors report.

 And, yes, some of the movies that showed the most tobacco incidents were set in time periods when smoking was ubiquitous (such as “The Help” and “Midnight in Paris”), but others were not (“Green Hornet” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part I”). The study doesn’t make clear, however, how many of the 2011 movies were period films compared to those in the 2010 sample — a factor that could explain the results. Also, I’m wondering how many of the incidents of tobacco use were done by the films’ villains, and, if so, whether that kind of depiction has a different impact on children than smoking done by the films’ protagonists.