Jump to full article: The China Post (tw), 2008-12-18
Intro: Health officials have urged movie producers to reduce or eliminate scenes of smoking in their products for the sake of improving public health.
They said parents should also help children and teenagers in the family eschew programs containing too many scenes related to smoking or tobacco products.
The Bureau of Health Promotion under the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) conducted a survey of electronic media programs before the more restrictive anti-smoking regulations are set to take effect on Jan. 11, 2009.
The survey found that children and teenagers in Taiwan have been exposed to a high frequency of smoking scenes, especially in the movies.
Officials at the bureau pointed out that movies contain 20 times more smoking scenes or related images than in television programs.
Some popular movies like “Shaolin Soccer”, “Kungfu Hustle” and “Lust, Caution” favored by teenagers show smoking scenes or messages at a rate of every one or two minutes.
“Kungfu Hustle” has the highest number of scenes related to smoking.
Even the newest blockbuster “Cape No. 7” has 29 scenes, averaging one for every four minutes in the popular movie.
Even young children cannot escape from the smoke. One example was cartoon movie “One Piece” that has one scene about smoking in every episode. The frequency for “Crayon Shinchan” is 0.67 scene in each episode.
Jump to full article » |