Tobacco.org

• Taxpayer Subsidies for US Films with Tobacco Imagery 

Forty-one US states and several countries compete for big-budget Hollywood film projects by offering valuable public subsidies. In 2008, states offered an estimated total of $1.4 billion to motion picture producers. On average, individual states now cover 24 percent of production costs for commercial feature films. Because an estimated 1.3 million current adolescent smokers in the US were recruited to smoke by tobacco imagery in films about 400,000 of whom will ultimately die from tobacco-induced diseases, this report estimates the size of recent public subsidies for youth-rated (G/PG/PG-13) films with tobacco imagery. It explores making tobacco imagery a determinant factor in eligibility for public film subsidies so that these awards no longer work in contradiction to public health. A survey of the 147 films released to US theaters in 2008, each among the top ten box office earners in at least one week, finds two-thirds of US-developed, youthrated film projects with tobacco imagery were filmed in the US, a rate typical of all films released by US studios over the past decade. Filmed in a dozen states now offering subsidies, these 35 movies contributed 71 percent of the 11.4 billion tobacco impressions delivered to US theater audiences by youth-rated films in 2008.

Based on this film sample and on film industry production cost data, states awarded an estimated $830 million in public subsidies to films with tobacco, including $500 million to youth-rated films with tobacco. For comparison, the states budgeted $719 million for all tobacco control in 2009. More than half of states subsidizing films (22/41), including New York and California, spend or earmark more money for commercial film subsidies than for anti-tobacco programs. An estimated 60 percent ($830 million/$1.4 billion) of state film subsidies go to smoking films.

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• Study Says State Film Subsidies Underwrite Tobacco-Friendly Movies 

A new report takes aim at state movie production subsidies for supporting films that depict smoking. Health researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, estimate that 60 percent of the $1.4 billion that states offered in 2008 to attract Hollywood filming went to movies with tobacco imagery.

The researchers tabulated that states gave about $500 million to “youth-rated” movies (PG and PG-13) and about $330 million R-rated movies. Combined, that is more than the 41 states that offer subsidies spend on antitobacco health programs, according to Stanton Glantz, an author of the report and a U.C.S.F. professor of medicine.

“These film subsidies undermine their own antitobacco programs,” Mr. Glantz said. The full report, released Tuesday and funded by the American Legacy Foundation, is available here.

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Stop exhibiting use of tobacco in films  

Speakers at a human chain yesterday demanded immediate steps to stop the use of tobacco in dramas, films and electronic media to prevent the youths of the country picking up the tobacco habit including smoking.

They also called upon the government to take initiatives to implement Tobacco Control Law to save the new generation of the country from wrong path and destroying their lives.

'Pratyasha' Anti Drug Club and Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB Trust) jointly formed the human chain in front of Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University. . . .

The speakers said that the children, juveniles and youths watch drama and films and tend to follow the actors and actresses. So they can easily be habituated in the use of tobacco following them, they added.

'If the government does not stop the use of tobacco in the drama, films and electronic media, the aims and objectives of formulating the Tobacco Control Law will be frustrated,' they said.

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Do movie critic's "smoke breaks" glorify an unhealthy smoking habit? 

It's no secret that Post-Standard movie critic Joan Vadeboncouer is a smoker. Drive past the downtown building at any time of day, and you're liable to see her standing outside smoking her cigarettes. (Smoking hasn't been allowed in the Post-Standard building for almost two decades.)

It's also no secret that JV knows movies. . . .

Last week, a fun new feature appeared on Syracuse.com called "Joanie's Smoke Break Movie Reviews." There's one posted about Whip It, and another about Zombieland. . . .

Research has shown that young people start lighting up partially because of what they see in the movies, because of the way filmmakers glamorize the dirty habit. US News & World Report has written about the controversy, and so has Forbes, in a story about how student participation in sports can't compete with the powerful influence of smoking in films. . . .

Clearly, it's a hot research topic, and a controversy in Hollywood. What about right here in Central New York? I've heard some complaints about JV's cigarettes, but what do you think? Are JV's "smoke breaks" a vector in the expansion of the smoking epidemic?

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中国各界呼吁立法减少影视剧中的“烟草镜头” 

“戏不够，拿烟凑”——这句生动有趣的台词反映了中国影视创作中香烟泛滥的现象。香烟成了最常用的“道具”，抽烟成了最常见的“故事情节”。而男性，则是烟民主体。

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中国各界呼吁立法减少“烟草镜头” 

烟雾缭绕的窃听室，满地的烟头，颓废、胡子拉碴的倦容——在电影《窃听风云》中，警员杨真给观众留下深刻印象。

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影视剧烟草镜头不容乐观 [Movies and television cameras can not be optimistic about tobacco] 

10月20日在香港举行的第三届两岸四地烟害防制交流研讨会上，中国控制吸烟协会青少年控烟职业委员会专家吕若然、段佳丽指出，目前，我国尚无明确的法律法规限制影视剧中的烟草镜头。虽然与前几年相比，影视剧中的烟草镜头控制情况有所改善，但从2008年的影视剧来看，烟草镜头暴露的情况仍然不容乐观，影视剧中基本没有控制烟草的宣传。

October 20 in Hong Kong, the four at the third cross-Strait Seminar on Tobacco Control, the Chinese Association on Smoking Control Youth Tobacco Control's professional committee of experts Lu and if so, Duan beauties pointed out that currently there is no clear laws and regulations in China restrictions on tobacco film and television drama shot. While in previous years, film and television drama shot in tobacco control situation has improved, but the 2008 TV drama point of view, the lens of tobacco exposure is still not optimistic, film and television drama basically no tobacco control advocacy.

In the agency investigated 10 domestic films, there are four appeared in the tobacco lens, a total of 25 times, average length of the tobacco lens, 1 minute. Have been investigated 11 television shows, then all the emergence of tobacco lens. A total of 453 times the lens of tobacco there, with an average there are 41.1 per tobacco television camera, when the episode an average length of the lens of tobacco 1.5 minutes. Among them, the appearances of tobacco exposure to a television camera the most, with an average occur once every 17.3 minutes tobacco lens.

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L.A. billboard owners squash 'Land of the Lost' anti-smoking ads  

But what the New York Times' Brooks Barnes reveals online today is that L.A. billboard owners, already enormously unpopular for shamelessly installing an ever-growing assortment of hideous video billboards, refused to accept ads from the AMAA publicly calling out the studio for its on-screen promotion of smoking. The AMAA had previously announced that the studio "found to be the biggest smoking offender would be publicly shamed on nearby billboards." But when the AMAA went to buy billboard space, every local billboard vendor refused to sell.

According to the AMAA, the billboard vendors, who take in a huge amount of revenue from (surprise!) movie industry advertising, weren't going to let their favorite clients be embarrassed in such a public way from an anti-smoking organization. It's yet another black eye for L.A., which has allowed billboard pollution to run rampant without even putting up a fight.

But let me give the last word to AMAA President Nancy Kyler, who says: "It's a sad day when movie studios can promote smoking to youth, but public health advocates cannot find a billboard in the whole city of Los Angeles that will run an ad to alert the public about the problem."

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• ‘Land of the Lost’ Haunts Universal in Unexpected Way  

"Land of the Lost" is the gift that just keeps on taking for Universal Pictures.

The American Medical Association Alliance, a volunteer arm of the powerful health organization that focuses on family issues, on Friday released its scorecard for the depiction of smoking in mass-appeal summer movies. Universal was the biggest offender because of "Land of the Lost," the big-budget failure that helped cost the co-chairmen of the studio their jobs this month.

The alliance said it counted 18 shots of Will Ferrell smoking a pipe in the movie, resulting in about 124 million tobacco impressions. (The industry generally calculates an "impression" by multiplying the number of incidences by the film's total gross, then dividing by the average ticket price.)

" 'Land of the Lost' wasn't just a flop at the box office, it was also a real loser for public health," said Nancy Kyler, president of the American Medical Association Alliance.

The group did not name the second- and third-place offenders. A Universal spokeswoman declined to comment.

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120000 Lives a Year 

Video highlights one of the most urgent health challenges of the 21st Century, from the history of paid product placement to the May, 2004 U.S. Senate hearing, scientific research confirming the problem, growing youth activism, and the reasonable, effective four-step Smoke Free Movies solution endorsed by leading health groups.

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Viral anti-smoking campaign goes Bollywood  

An Aboriginal health organisation has launched a new anti-smoking campaign in the Northern Territory that involves Bollywood and rap music videos spread via mobile phones.

Miwatj Health in north-east Arnhem Land has commissioned five music videos, which include titles such as "Bolypingu" and "Cough 'n' rap".

The videos are part of a three-year Commonwealth-funded program to build awareness about the dangers of tobacco in remote communities.

"Miwatj is well aware that more Indigenous people will die from tobacco related illness than from alcohol, petrol sniffing, domestic violence and car accidents put together," said Ric Browne, the coordinator of the organisation's Tobacco Control Project.

"This is the most prolific and insidious killer of people on the planet."

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GORE: Don't lose the Lib in Lib Dems  

Unsuspecting journalists attending the anti-prohibition conference fringe event would be forgiven for thinking the Liberal Democrats were a hotbed of anti-state libertarian action.

The panel included Colin Eldridge from Liverpool City Council, who had been invited to defend the controversial idea of rating films 18 certificate if they happen to feature "unnecessary" smoking. The audience – and the rest of the panel – were not impressed. Questions were invited, then the audience began pouring scorn and ridicule on this heinous idea.

I asked Eldridge if his opinions were his own. Was he parroting a line he thought might be electorally advantageous? "If I were doing it to win votes," he said, "I'd be against the policy." . . .

As an advocate of free trade, free speech and individualism, I'm used to being in the minority whenever Liberal Democrats are gathered, so to find myself sharing knowing nods and looks of incredulity with an angry mob as Eldridge spoke was a strangely refreshing experience. Being popular is fun! Who knew?

But here's the problem. While libertarians, classical liberals and free thinkers were all in the bars and fringes of Bournemouth complaining about policy, the nanny state Liberal Democrats were all in the conference hall pouring reinforced concrete on our reputation as yet another mildly authoritarian social democratic party, just like the other two.

The biggest failure was the infamous "airbrushing ban" – a policy that demands that images aimed at under-16s are not digitally manipulated, and images aimed at adults have to carry a warning. . . .

If the Liberal Democrats want to be distinctive, we need to break the cosy socially conservative consensus, where politicians believe their role in life is to make the people fitter, happier and more productive and justify every illiberal idea with an appeal to the Argumentum Ad Maternitate or "I'm a mother with three children and I reckon you should definitely ban smoking in films. Think of the children!"

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• Cigarettes in films must be banned: Commission 

The National Commission for Child Protection said Thursday that politicians had to ban the advertising of cigarette in movies.

"We demand that the House of Representatives insert an article in the bill on films banning cigarette promotions in movies," said Muhammad Joni, the vice chairman of the Commission. The Commission said the bill must forbid cigarette companies from sponsoring the production of films, ban scenes where actors are shown smoking and prevent companies from marketing tobacco brands in the film.

Joni said the current bill, if passed into law, would possess weaker measures on prohibiting cigarette advertising compared to the laws on broadcasting and the press.

"At least in both those laws, companies cannot display or broadcast cigarette products through their advertising," Joni said.

In the bill on films, Joni said, no article regulating the advertisement of cigarettes had been included.

The Commission has sent letters voicing their concerns and recommendations to the House and would try and arrange a meeting with lawmakers, Joni said.

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The Weinsteins Scramble to Regain a Golden Touch in Hollywood 

IN the wee hours of Friday morning, Quentin Tarantino stood in a West Village bar that had opened for him and his entourage -- cast members of his new movie, "Inglourious Basterds," and his longtime producers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Swinging a blue cocktail in one hand, he held forth about the time that Harvey told him he'd like to invest in a restaurant.

The goal, Harvey explained to Mr. Tarantino at the time, wasn't to schmooze, or to get the best table. New York City had just banned cigarettes from restaurants and Harvey, then an avid smoker, didn't approve.

"He said, 'I want to light up in my own restaurant and blow smoke in the fire marshal's face,' " Mr. Tarantino recalled.

Vintage Harvey chutzpah. The story killed, and when the laughing died down, Bob smiled, waited a beat and added another punch line.

"A million dollars," he sighed, "for a cigarette."

Ah, the flush years.

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影视剧吸烟镜头泛滥"诱导"青少年吸烟 控烟亟需法制化 

“我抽第一根烟是因为拍片的需要，导演说，不抽烟就把你撤掉，于是我在香烟上抹着风油精勉强抽了第一根烟。这一抽就是12年，最多的时候每天两包烟。”在近日召开的一场名为“倡导无烟影视净化银屏”的新闻发布会上，国家一级演员冯远征讲述了他的吸烟史。 　　此次新闻发布会由中国控制吸烟协会和中国疾控中心控烟办主办。会上，一个信息的公布———2007年至2009年部分影视剧吸烟镜头的调查结果，令人瞠目结舌。

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