Tobacco Videos/Films
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 09:56:21 -0500
From: Debbie Monkman
To: geneb@tobacco.org
Subject: Tobacco Video/Film -Reply
Gene,
We are happy to provide a list of tobacco videos (attached).
These videos were reviewed by a committee of ARF specialists, addiction workers and community members and the reviews were published in "Projection," a bi-monthly addictions video review service from ARF. Please contact a video distributor in your area to find out how to get these videos. For information about ARF and "Projection" contact: Gary Bell, AV Library Assistant at gbell@arf.org.
We hope to make our videographies available on our Web page in the near future (http://www.arf.org/)
*********************************************** Debbie Monkman (dmonkman@arf.org)Head, Reference Services
Addiction Research Foundation
33 Russell St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1
------------------- SMOKVID follows --------------------SMOKING & TOBACCO
The Addiction Research Foundation Library
33 Russell Street
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 595-6987
FAX (416) 595-6601
E-mail gbell@arf.org
Butt It Out
(Video No. 605) 1983
Rating: 5.6 (6 point scale)
Audience: 6-9 years; general
Synopsis: After hours in a testing laboratory, animal puppets are discussing the current experiment. A puppet robot joins them and offers them a cigarette. The next morning, the professor puts the robot on a treadmill to run for one hour. The robot cannot do it, but declares that it is not because he smokes. Other enactments show clear and dirty lungs, effects of second-hand smoke and why people smoke. The robot vows never to smoke again when he realizes how harmful it is.
Cigarette Underworld
(Video No. 845) 1987 Rating: 4.3 (6 point scale)
Audience: general
Synopsis: Dr. Alan Blum delivers a lecture on the evil cigarette manufacturers and how they manage to advertise their product even though the use of cigarettes kills many people each year. An organization called DOC has been set up to develop and use counter-advertising against the cigarette manufacturers. Dr. Blum urges his audience to become involved with DOC and to do all they can to get rid of cigarettes.
Cigarettes: Who Profits, Who Dies?
(Video No. 1106) 1993; 50 min Rating: 5.6 (6 point scale)
Audience: general; 15 years +
Synopsis: Wayne McLaren, the Marlboro Man, reprises his role from the advertisements that helped make Marlboro the top selling U.S. cigarette brand. Wayne also has cancer related to cigarette smoking. We also hear from Myriam, a Lucky Strike model, who now teaches her fellow laryngectomy patients how to talk again. This program is a powerful and provocative look at how advertising works to recruit smokers to replace those who die or quit. It also explores the gulf between the images and the effects of smoking as well as the efforts of the tobacco companies to expand their trade into new markets in Asia and the Pacific.
Confessions Of A Simple Surgeon
(Video No. 976) 1990 Rating: 5.6 (6 point scale)
Audience: 8 years +; general; smokers
Synopsis: Following years of first-hand exposure to the toll smoking takes on human lives, Australian Dr. Arthur Evans fights back. Tactics used by Dr. Chesterfield and other urban guerillas target outdoor advertising, taking action after midnight, armed with cans of spray paint. Satirical spoofs of cigarette advertising and other media events also challenge the "sophisticated, evil lies of smoking advertising." Graphic scenes showing the results of cigarette-related health hazards are used to justify illegal activities of such tobacco-protest groups as "bugger-up."
Death In The West
(Video No. 2018) 1976; 32 min Rating: None given (6 point scale)
Audience: general 16 years +
Synopsis: Thames Television, under pressure from the Phillip Morris tobacco company suppressed broadcast of this documentary and it was not shown in public until 1982. It is a profile of the growth of the Marlboro brand of cigarettes to the number one position in the United States, propelled there by the rough and independent image of the cowboy. A number of the working cowboys originally shown in the advertisements are interviewed as are their physicians. Most have since died of cancer, caused by smoking the MD's assert. A senior executive and a scientist from Phillip Morris are also interviewed. Taking the opposite view the smoking of tobacco is not proven to cause cancer and that carcinogens known to be in tobacco are insignificant.
Diary Of A Teenage Smoker
(Video No. 2067) 1991; 26 min Rating: None given (6 point scale)
Audience: women 13 to adult; smokers
Synopsis: "I was Desperate...I had to find one," a diarist writes of her life as a smoker. Throughout this program young women comment on their smoking habits: how they started and how they tried to quit. Most started with friends, "everyone smoked." They discuss rebellion, the need to fit in, the place of advertising and the importance of appearances. The comic Sandra Shamus comments on her smoking career and "how to smoke like a lady." Interspersed with this commentary are facts about health consequences and examples of counter advertising.
Dying For A Smoke
(Video No. 1182) 1994; 50 min Rating: 3.7 (6 point scale)
Audience: general
Synopsis: This documentary examines the social costs of cigarette smoking: expert profiles are given on the effects during pregnancy; on heart attacks, asthma, emphysema and other health problems. Also examined is "vote trading" in the U.S. Congress, the problem of addiction, advertising and profitability. Attitudes of European consumers and governments are outlined and celebrity testimonials from Charleton Heston and Johnny Mathis round-out the program.
Feminine Mistake
(Video No. 925) 1989
Rating: 4.0 (6 point scale)
Audience: women; 12 years +
Synopsis: A cameo appearance by actress Meridith Baxter Birney kicks off this warning of the special risks women face in relation to cigarettes. In addition to the general health hazards smoking poses, dangers to the female reproduction system and unborn babies are discussed. Cigarette advertising now targeting women promotes smoking as liberating, sexually attractive and glamorous. The truth about smoking is revealed by women whose lives have been severely damaged by cigarettes.
Future Wave
(Video No. 790) 1986
Rating: 5.1 (6 point scale)
Audience: 8-18 years of age
Synopsis: A group of teenagers are producing a film on smoking. There film opens with a girl walking through a mall watching smokers and non-smokers. She meets friends and succumbs to their pressure to smoke. Interviews deal with why people started to smoke, why they quit, and why they continued to smoke. Meanwhile, a new girl at school wonders how she will make friends. A boy tries to persuade her to smoke a cigarette; the same scene is replayed several times employing different pressure and refusal techniques. Finally, another girl is transported into the future where she astounds that generation by lighting a cigarette. Their scientists test the cigarette and tell her that it is dangerous to her health.
Growing Up Without Tobacco
(Video No. 1125) 1991; 8 min Rating: 4.8 (6 point scale)
Audience: students 12 to 18 years
Synopsis: Today, "a battle is underway" for the health of the next generation, pitting cigarette manufacturers and their billion dollar advertising campaigns against health advocates. This video collects and presents a variety of anti-tobacco efforts from around the world. Programs range from the Smoke Busters Club, which intends to make non-smoking fashionable for U.K. teens, to education in Kenya, to a recent Scottish television advertisement that portrays smokers as puppets.
Hidden Addict: Smoking
(Video No. 865) 1987 Rating: 5.0 (6 point scale)
Audience: health professionals; 15 years +; drug users Synopsis: Although cigarette smoking has lost popularity over time, the tobacco industry is still a multi-million dollar business that encourages the adoption of smoking at an early age. John began smoking as a teenager. Although he has lost part of a lung to cancer, he continues to smoke. Like others, John finds nicotine addiction so powerful that he is unable to give up cigarette smoking.
Hooked On Tobacco?
(Video No. 2086) 1990 Rating: No rating (6 point scale)
Audience: General
Synopsis: This video discusses and illustrates the syndrome of tobacco dependence, and the mechanism by which smokers are "hooked" and how the body of the smoker learns tolerance. Physical effects are also presented. It would be of interest to a wide audience for an introduction to tobacco dependence, smoking control, or cessation.
Hugh McCabe: The Coach's Final Lesson
(Video No. 891) 1988 Rating: 5.3 (6 point scale)
Audience: 15 years +; teachers; students Synopsis: Coach McCabe, a high school teacher, a father, an athletic coach, a personal counsellor and a smoker, has a cancerous tumour on his lungs. He says that his condition is related to his smoking, but will not stop because he feels the damage is done. He is, in fact, addicted to cigarettes. Personal interviews with Coach McCabe, his family, friends, peers and students describe the coach's personal attributes, his life prior to diagnosis, the progression of his illness and ultimately his death.
Just For Me: I Don't Buy It
(Video No. 1058) Rating: 5.3 (6 point scale)
Audience: Grade 2 to 4
Synopsis: I don't buy it is one of six student programs in Just for Me, a series that provides video and print materials on drug abuse prevention skills. In this video, Zach becomes concerned when he sees his friend Amy smoking cigarettes. Amy says she just wants to have the same kind of fun that advertising links to consumption of tobacco and alcohol. Zach consults his mother, who works in an ad agency, and she explains that the purpose of advertising is to promote a product-not tell the truth. Amy, Zach and their friend Teeter then produce a series of satirical ads for their classmates. They spoof typical ads (Cowpoke cigarettes, etc), then urge their friends to ask what products are really about-to get the facts from independent sources, such as libraries and teachers-and think about the consequences of use.
Lobbying For Lives: Lessons From The Front
(Video No. 898) 1988 Rating: 4.8 (6 point scale)
Audience: 15 years +; health professionals Synopsis: Documented events trace the lobbying and ultimate passage of the Canadian anti-tobacco bills, C-51 and C-204, on June 28, 1988. Bill C-51 bans all tobacco advertising, severely limits other tobacco promotion, mandates stronger package warning and compels tobacco manufacturers to include detailed package inserts listing all ingredients and harmful effects. Bill C-204 bans smoking in all workplaces under federal jurisdiction and brings tobacco under the Hazardous Products Act. The important lesson learned by health lobby groups is that if they are willing to learn the political ropes, mobilize their volunteers and exercise their political clout, significant legislative change can occur. Such change can reduce disease, prevent deaths, and in the long run do more for the health of Canadians than all of the hospitals in the country put together.
Mommy, I Can't Breathe
(Video No. 870) 1987 Rating: 4.8 (6 point scale)
Audience: health professionals; adults
Synopsis: Smoking and second hand smoke are unhealthy for foetuses, infants, growing children and their parents. Pregnant women who smoke endanger their babies' health in many ways; harmful gases and poisonous substances from tobacco smoke easily cross the placental lining. Even after birth, children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are at increased risk of adverse health effects such as pneumonia, bronchitis and underdevelopment. Expectant mothers should be strongly motivated to quit smoking for the sake of their babies' health. It is also a good time for fathers to quit smoking.
Nicotine
(Video No. 1089.8) 1991; 30 min Rating: None given (6 point scale)
Audience: general
Synopsis: This program is part of the series Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs and presents in general terms many issues relating to tobacco use, including the idea that tobacco use can also be a form of drug abuse. History, production, advertising, long and short term consequences for health are covered. Statistics are from U.S. experience, among them being that 90 per cent of smokers started before they were 19 years old.
Packing It In
(Video No. 855) 1987
Rating: 4.4 (6 point scale)
Audience: smokers
Synopsis: Murray and Susan have decided to quit smoking "cold turkey" in the next week. In preparation for "quitting day" they complete a personal inventory and record other information about their smoking. We follow Murray and Susan each day for the next 2 weeks. They discuss their withdrawal symptoms and feeling about not smoking. To relieve anxiety they learn deep breathing and relaxation exercises. Interspersed with these scenes are "Smoking Trivia" facts and Health and Welfare Canada commercials from the late 1960's.
Pack of Lies: The Advertising Of Tobacco
(Video No. 1082) 1993 Rating: 4.3 (6 point scale)
Audience: Policy makers; health professionals; students of advertising; general public Synopsis: In a videotaped lecture, two presenters challenge the tobacco industry's claim that cigarette advertisements are only intended to motivate current smokers to switch brands. They give evidence of advertisements intended to recruit young smokers, target other groups such as women and reassure existing smokers.
Poisoning Your Children: The Perils Of Secondhand Smoke
(Video No. 1185) 1993; 12 min Rating: 5.4 (6 point scale)
Audience: general
Synopsis: According to one narrator, "70 per cent of children smoke: because their parents do," while another states that "smoking parents slowly poison their kids." This video uses animation, expert interviews and testimonials to reveal hoe secondhand smoke damages health, especially that of young children. The animated segments illustrate how tobacco smoke effects the body and how it compounds problems of asthma and pneumonia. One segment chronicles the asthma problems of a young girl who we see using a "puffer" while her father smokes a cigarette in the background.
Showdown On Tobacco Road
(Video No. 945) 1987 Rating: 5.2 (6 point scale)
Audience: 12 years +; general; smokers; health professionals Synopsis: An overview of smoking in American culture in the backdrop to a debate on human rights, legal implications, political and medical issues around tobacco. Viewpoints are presented from all sides, including medical experts, politicians, advertising and tobacco industry representatives, smokers, anti-smoking activists and non-smokers themselves. Much of the discussion argues the question of whether or not US cigarette manufacturers have a First Amendment right to advertise in newspapers, magazines and on billboards. Other discussion concerns a person's right to smoke and possible implications on personal freedom.
Smart Women Don't Smoke
(Video No. 2083) 1989 Rating: No rating (6 point scale)
Audience: General
Synopsis: Women smokers face increased health risks during pregnancy, or if smoking in combination with birth control pill use. Why women smoke is discussed in terms of tobacco promotion, and several of the best anti-smoking P.S.A.'s are shown. Yul Brynner's anti-smoking message is included, recorded when he was dying of lung cancer. The story is narrated by his daughter Victoria.
Smoking: It's Your Choice
(3rd Edition)
(Video No. 889) 1989 Rating: 4.0 (6 point scale)
Audience: 8-14 years;
Synopsis: Current studies of cigarette smoking reveal the high health risks of smoking: nicotine is the most habit forming drug (9 out of 10 people who start smoking become addicted); second-hand smoke is harmful (children of smokers suffer more bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases than children of non-smokers; smoking damages the lungs, eventually causing emphysema; smoking causes cancer of the larynx and the lungs, smoking is currently the primary cause of heart disease; a pregnant smoker may harm her unborn child since carbon monoxide and other dangerous chemicals pass into the body of the unborn child through the placenta, robbing the baby of oxygen and nutrients. Yet there are strong influences to encourage continued smoking.
Secondhand Smoke
(Video No. 2125) 1989; 16 min Rating: None given (6 point scale)
Audience: workplace; general
Synopsis: This program starts with a comical portrayal of a mad scientist trying to invent the perfect poison, only to find by accident that such a poison already exists in the form of secondhand smoke from cigarettes. Hosted by Jack Klugman arguments are presented on the increased health risks for non-smokers (including unborn babies) and that there are no safe levels of exposure. The conclusion urges non-smokers to take social action.
Smoke And Mirrors
(Video No. 1180)
Rating 3.8 (6 point scale)
Audience: students 10-15 years
Synopsis: Kea, a young dancer, is excited to be chosen a "Zowie Girl" and model a line of clothing. A friend tells her that the clothing line is a subsidiary of a tobacco company. Kea does not seem to mind, but soon learns that her agent is more concerned about promoting tobacco use to teens than marketing clothing. During a personal appearance at a mall, the agent asks Kea to start smoking the company's cigarettes to help promote a more sophisticated image. Realizing she has been manipulated into encouraging other kids to smoke, Kea decides to quit the company.
Smoking Against Your Will
(Video No. 2032) 1985; 29 min Rating: None given (6 point scale)
Audience: health professionals; general
Synopsis: Second-hand smoke and its health effects is the issue of this program. Smokers and non-smokers discuss their beliefs and concerns. Through interviews with health care professionals the hazards of "side-stream" for people with allergies, children and spouses of smokers are described. Ultrasound images are used to show a fetus responding to the presence of tobacco smoke. Problems of tobacco in the workplace are presented and "before and after" blood test show high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) among workers in a bingo hall.
Smoking: Time To Quit
(Video No. 2143) 1994; 17 min Rating: 3.7 (6 point scale)
Audience: general; smokers
Synopsis: This video combines interviews with physicians, former smokers and old television commercials to present information on quitting. One expert discusses the physical consequences of tobacco use included among them the much higher risk of stroke and heart attacks among smokers. Also presented are the risks of long-term exposure to "second-hand" smoke particularly hospitality workers and children of smokers. An epidemiologist gives tips on quitting such as planning in advance and not being discouraged by relapse. It is pointed out that most people make several serious attempts to quit before succeeding. It takes practice.
Smokin' Sam
(Video No. 1186) 1994; 23 min Rating: 5.0 (6 point scale)
Audience: students 6 to 14 years
Synopsis: In this fictional story, "Smokin' Sam" is the star player on a roller hockey team. The team also happens to be owned by a corporation that also owns a tobacco company. After a personal appearance at an elementary school, Sam is seen smoking in the parking lot by two of his young fans. The children lecture Sam on the dangers of smoking. During the events that follow Sam and his two young friends learn about the health hazards of smoking from a doctor and how tobacco companies use advertising to recruit young people and others to become smokers.
Time Challengers: Assignment Smoking
(Video No. 1021) 1991 Rating: 4.1 (6 point scale)
Audience: 8 to 12 years
Synopsis: In this animated fantasy, three kids are given special powers by mysterious old Mr. Chronos. They become the Time Challengers: Rerun, able to visit the past; Contempo, who can freeze time in the present; and Futuron, who can travel into the future. In this episode (several are available), the three heroes try to convince high school track star Lee to give up smoking. Contempo freezes time as his race begins. Rerun then takes him back to when he had his first cigarette. And Futuron spirits him ahead to the future, where his grandmother lies hospitalized with emphysema. like the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", they get their message across and Lee throws away his cigarettes in time to run his race.
Tobacco: The Complete Story
(Video No. 2034) 1981 Rating: No rating (6 point scale)
Audience: adults; general
Synopsis: This video provides an objective overview on smoking and the impact of tobacco on our social and economic life. It is not a scare-tactics, anti-smoking production. Using documentary photography and interviews, we discover how tobacco is grown, processed and sold. Advertising, pricing, legislation and health issues are addressed directly and concisely. It is a useful information resource and discussion starter for any group that is dealing with tobacco use in our society.
Tobacco: The Pushers And Their Victims
(Video No. 1033) Rating: 4.9 (6 point scale)
Audience: Students aged 15 to 18
Synopsis: This film takes a look at teens and smoking from two distinct vantage points. First it looks at how the tobacco industry markets its products in ways that would appeal to young smokers; secondly it presents, through interviews with teens, their reasons for starting to smoke, the effects smoking has had on them and the difficulties they encounter when trying to quit. The film also presents U.S. statistics on some of the harmful consequences of smoking, including the effects on babies whose mothers smoke while pregnant.
Tobacco: A Gift Of Choice
(Video No. 1059) Rating: 3.6 (6 point scale)
Audience: Native youth
Synopsis: Many Native people have long regarded tobacco as a gift from, and a symbol of respect for the creator. They assert there is a difference between its traditional ceremonial use and the habitual use of cigarettes and chewing tobacco. An elder passes on to his grandson the tobacco related lore given him by his own grandfather, hoping that tobacco will cease to be a substance of abuse and that young people will rediscover its traditional use. A group of young native people perform a rap song in support of this message.
Sept. 1995/gary/smoker1