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By Nomadic Chris, 30 April 2009
Does the entertainment world and the media have a hold over the consumption habits of teens?
Are you influenced by what your favourite actors, actresses or singers wear?
The answer is most likely yes.
Hollywood and the media are one of the most powerful institutions in the world and certain celebrities are seen as role models. What they wear and how they act are watched and mimicked by millions of teens around the world.
Gossip magazines and websites are popular as many people want to follow latest 'hot' trends by the latest 'A' list celebrity. Some celebrities inevitably smoke on screen; smoking is projected as alluring and sexy especially if carried out by the female protagonists. Tobacco companies know the power of the media and often sign deals to have 'cigarette product placements'. Once a popular star lights up, millions of others - especially impressionable youth - will as well!
According to an www.ash.org.uk news release, evidence from the United States, shows a close correlation between smoking imagery in films and the likelihood of young teenagers starting to smoke. The release states:
. “A report in the journal of Pediatrics confirms that U.S. films deliver billions of tobacco images to U.S. children aged 10-14, the age-group most likely to begin experimenting with cigarettes. Studies found three out of four movies (74%) studied contained smoking. When calculating numbers of American adolescents viewing each movie and amounts of smoking contained in each one, the researchers estimated that these films delivered 13.9 billion smoking images. Sixty-one percent of these were delivered by youth-rated movies”
• “A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, tested whether teens in a society where tobacco advertising is still rampant are as influenced by smoking on-screen. After controlling for demographic, media and psychosocial factors, investigators found that teens who had seen the most smoking in films (mostly U.S. blockbusters) were more than twice as likely to have tried smoking than those who saw the least amount—results that mirror findings in the U.S.”
Globally teens around the world are thinking for themselves and reacting. According to www.new10now.com, in New York State, teenagers from seven counties met to protest smoking in youth movies. Dozens of teens from the group, reality check, wanted to get the message across that smoking in movies is responsible for 52-percent of new teen smokers.
Reality Check members want movies that show or imply tobacco use to be rated "R” and teen leaders say changing movie ratings will save lives.
"How many teenagers start smoking because of movies because they think it's cool because they see their favorite actors smoking, and it really is a big deal," said Jimmy Johnston, Madison Co. Reality Check Leader.
"There's Disney movies and 60% of them, because Disney also owns Touchstone and Miramax, 60% of these movies contain smoking, and you think of Disney as a kids thing. And there's little kids out there that see smoking in movies, and they think it's okay," said Lauren Chapman, Cayuga Co. Reality Check Leader.
Globally, tobacco control advocates want the film industry to take the following steps (from Ash News Release below):
* Require producers to certify in the credits that no person involved in the production of the film received payment for the use or display of tobacco
* Prohibit the identification of tobacco brands in films
* Require strong anti-smoking ads to be shown prior to any film being shown that includes smoking scenes
* Give future films containing tobacco images an “adult” rating.
Remember:
Hollywood, the media and corporations often collude in terms of product placements! Cigarettes and alcohol products are there for a reason.
Sometimes subliminal images and messages are included in film or TV shows
Think for yourselves and don't be easily swayed!
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