In the top-grossing films of the 1950s, there were 10.7 smoking "incidents" -- characters taking a drag, prominently displayed ashtrays or tobacco ads -- per hour of screen time, Stanton A Glantz, Ph.D. and colleagues found. By the early 1980s, smoking had become scarce, appearing only 4.9 times per hour.
Cigarettes have made a comeback, however, beginning in 1989 and steadily increasing their appearances until 2002, when the researchers counted 10.9 smoking incidents per hour of screen time in the top grossing films. Their study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.
"Despite declining tobacco use and increasing public understanding of the dangers of smoking in the real world, smoking in movies has returned to levels observed in 1950, when smoking was nearly twice as prevalent in reality as it was in 2002," Glantz says.
Glantz and colleagues worry that the rise in screen smoking will encourage teens to smoke, since previous studies have shown a link between smoking in the movies and youth smoking habits.
"Particularly with the long shelf life that movies gain through television rebroadcast, videotape and DVD, the pro-tobacco influence of the high smoking levels in recent movies will continue to be a pro-tobacco influence on teenagers for years to come unless remedial action is taken," Glantz warns.
The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute and the American Legacy Foundation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Stanton Glantz at glantz@medicine.ucsf.edu or Camille Mojica Rey, UCSF Public Affairs at (415) 476-8429 or cmrey@pubaff.ucsf.edu.
American Journal of Public Health: (202) 777-2511 or www.ajph.org.
BY BECKY HAM, SCIENCE WRITER
HEALTH BEHAVIOR NEWS SERVICE
Journal
American Journal of Public Health