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This week, the Centers for Disease Control released a report on the prevalence of cigarette smoking in movies, and they are not amused saying that there is still a hell of a lot of smokin’ going on in the movies. In L.A. a city where smoking is so yesterday doesn’t seem to mind it when it appears in its movies. According to the CDC’s research, nearly half of all the popular movies released in 2009 contained some sort of “tobacco imagery,” including 54% of the films that were rated PG-13. However, looking deeper, it turns out that smoking on the big screen has actually dropped by half since 2005, which was Hollywood’s wildest year in smoking – at least going back to 1991.
The CDC is not about to go soft on the film industry: In fact, to prevent Hollywood from glamorizing cigarette use especially among younger viewers, the CDC advocates slapping an automatic R rating on any movie that shows someone smoking a cigarette.
So, is the sexy-cool image of smoking a thing of the past…, or is it making a hip-er comeback? Remember Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas lighting up in that Verhoven movie? How has the imagery reduce its message to young audiences where lighting up is now seen on the smaller more intimate setting of TV sets in our homes, on shows like AMC’s “Mad Men,” or “Sons of Anarchy” on F/X? Or perhaps with today’s health conscious viewers, the image can still pop up here and there as a visual effect but be weaker and defused in its previously persuasive effect!?
Your thoughts…?