Behind the SmokeScreen

1
Behind the SmokeScreen

• Tobacco, films and children
• a presentation by

2
Our worst serial killer !

• Tobacco smoking in Australia causes....
• 19,000 deaths a year
• 80 of all drug-related deaths
• More deaths than car accidents,
• illicit drugs, alcohol, AIDS, murder, suicide,
  diabetes, breast skin cancer... COMBINED!
  
• Massive illness, disability suffering
• National cost of 21 billion a year
• Aust Inst of Health Welfare 2002

3
Smoking and children

• In Australia (2002)
• 14 of secondary students (205,000) smoked at
  least weekly
  
• 25 of 17-year-olds smoked at least weekly
• 90 of all adult smokers start smoking as
  children
  
• Kids can move quickly from experimentation to
  regular smoking and addiction

4
The tobacco industry plan

• Targeting children
• 23 of the population is 15 years of age and
  under. 17 is 16-24... Given predisposition to
  try/adopt new brands,this segment represents
  significant market opportunity... Overall
  objective Position Marlboro as a cult brand
  to attract new smokers.
• Marlboro marketing strategy in Australia, 1990
• Using films
• Most of the strong, positive images for
  cigarettes and smoking are created by cinema and
  television. We have seen the heroes smoking in
  Wall St, Crocodile Dundee and Roger Rabbit.
  Mickey Rourke, Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn are
  forever seen, both on and off the screen, with a
  lighted cigarette... If branded cigarette
  advertising is to take full advantage of these
  images, it has to do more than simply achieve
  package recognition it has to feed off and
  exploit the image source.
• Philip Morris market research study, 1989

5
Evidence of encouragement

• Seeing smoking in films encourages children to
  smoke.
  
• The evidence
• Adolescents exposed to film smoking are almost 3
  times more likely to smoke
  
• Dalton et al, 2003, The Lancet
• Non-smoking teens whose favourite stars
• smoke on screen 16 times more likely
• to view smoking favourably
• Tickle et al, 2001, Tobacco Control
• Several other studies

6
Film smoking on the rise

• Despite the end of official tobacco promotion
  around 1990
  
• More smoking in films in 2000
• than in the 60s 9 out of 10
• Hollywood filmsKacirk Glantz, Tobacco
  Control, 2001
  
• Smoking in popular youth-oriented films
• up 50 since 1998 82 contain smoking,
• 83 of these associate tobacco with
• positive attributesMassachusetts Public
  Interest Research Group, 2002
  

7
Philip Morris for an Oscar?

• Marlboro (Philip Morris top brand)
• 28 appearances in big films in the last decade
  more than any top star
  
• More appearances (and more deaths) than
  Oscar-winner Hannibal Lecter!
  

8
Oz-screened films

• In the 13 top-grossing teen-popular films of
  1999/2000
  
• 62 had at least one tobacco scene average 4
  scenes per film
  
• A high of visual smoking incidents connected
  tobacco with at least one plus (enjoyment,
  attractiveness, glamour, power etc.)
  
• Few showed smoking as unappealing, unattractive
  or unacceptable
  
• Clarkson/Watson/Donovan/Giles-Corti, Uni of WA
  (2002, unpublished)
  

9
Who profits from the youth SmokeScreen?

• Each year, 167m revenue from tobacco sales to
  underage Australians
  
• Tobacco industry clears 1.14m profit
• Government gets more than 100m revenue
• Cancer Council Vic survey 2002
• Film industry gets box office, contras etc

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What could we do about it?

• Mandatory counter-advertising campaign
• require anti-tobacco counter-ads to be played
  before every screening of youth-rated films
  depicting smoking
  
• Statement by film-makers
• in credits, saying no-one has accepted tobacco
  inducements
  
• Support tougher legislation
• prohibition on tobacco ads (TAP Act) should
  include clearer
  
• ban on inducements to promote smoking or tobacco
  products
  
• excessive smoking could attract tougher
  classification
  
• Reduce smoking content at source
• writers, producers, directors refuse tobacco
  inducements
  
• think creatively about alternatives to smoking
  scenes, brand ID
  

11
Counter-ads can help

• US study of 800 9th-graders showed
• Running an anti-smoking ad before a film showing
  smoking has immunising effect against
  glamourisation
  
• Schoolkids seeing the anti-ads maintain their
  negative reactions to underage smoking
  
• Pechman/Shih, Uni of California 1997

12
Who cares?

• Organisations acting to reduce youth harm from
  smoking include
  
• ANYPAT (Australian Network on Young People and
  Tobacco)
  
• Contact Candy Fleming ph. [phone]
  cdfleming_at_cancersa.org.au
  
• ASH (Action on Smoking
• and Health) Australia
• Contact Stafford Sanders
• ph. [phone] staffords_at_ashaust.or
  g.au
  
• The Cancer Council NSW
• Smoking in Movies webpage at www.cancercouncil.co
  m.au/editorial.asp?pageid1409
  
• AMA, Heart Foundation, Quit, Health Departments