The impacts on young people's smoking behaviour of smoking in films. From evidence to action; how can we engage industry, policy makers and the public?
Professor John Britton, Hazel Cheezeman and Andrea Crossfield
Presenter(s)
Professor John Britton Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Nottingham
Dr Jo Cranwell New Media Lead in Smoking and Alcohol Research, University of Nottingham
Deborah Arnott Chief Executive, Action on Smoking & Health (ASH), London
Abstract
A body of evidence exists that smoking in films and other entertainment media causes smoking initiation amongst youth. In March, Disney’s CEO announced it would ban smoking in future youth productions, however to date no other Hollywood studio has followed suit.
The WHO’s 2011 report on smokefree movies took a strong stance calling for a series of measures including 18 certification for all films containing smoking as part of implementation of the WHO FCTC Article 13. Studies have shown that the majority of films depicting smoking have been categorised by the British Board of Film Classification as suitable for viewing by children and young people.
In 2012 the USA Surgeon General Report acknowledged the causal link between smoking in films and youth smoking initiation and the presence of a dose response relationship. The UK Government’s 2011 Tobacco Control Plan for England gave a commitment that: ‘We will continue to work to reduce the depiction of smoking in the media, including through bringing together media regulators and the entertainment industry to consider what more can be done.’ This commitment was not met.
This workshop will cover the issues involved including recent research findings on smoking in music videos and games and perspectives on policy and advocacy at international, national and local levels.
Source of funding: Various research evidence will be presented including WHO and surgeon general reports and studies undertaken by the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
