Breaking New Grounds in Tobacco Control - Voluntary Health ...

well as background images such as
billboards.
• Require strong anti-tobacco spots
approved by the appropriate government
authority to be shown before any
movie with tobacco depiction.
• Implement rating system to keep
smoking out of youth-rated films:
Movies with tobacco depictions should
receive an adult rating, with the
exception of films showing historical
characters who actually smoked, as
well as films showing the true health
consequences of tobacco use.
WHO has continued to speak out against
tobacco depictions in movies for nearly a
decade. During its 2003 World No Tobacco
Day campaign which focused on the
theme of Tobacco-free Film, Tobacco-free
Fashion,” WHO stated that “The world of
film [and fashion] cannot be accused of
causing cancer. But they do not have to
promote a product that does.” 5
The 2009 WHO report entitled, Smoke-free
Movies: From Evidence to Action, 6 discussed
the smoke-free movie recommendations in
the Article 13 Guidelines and called upon
countries to implement enforceable policies
to severely restrict smoking imagery in all
film media.
The second edition of the report, published
in 2011 4 , included a discussion on the fact
that in many countries, youth-rated films
which contain smoking scenes are receiving
substantial government production
subsidies. Because these subsidized films
are indirectly promoting tobacco use, WHO
concluded that these subsidies are a counter
to WHO FCTC Article 13 and its guidelines.
Consequently, WHO recommends that media
productions with tobacco depictions should
be made ineligible for public subsidies. This
recommendation would extend to preferable
tax rates as well.
All of these policies that WHO recommends
are realistic, reasonable, do not impinge
upon artistic expression, and can in no
way be viewed as censorship. Under
these recommended policies to implement
the WHO FCTC, filmmakers would be free
to include smoking and other forms of
tobacco use in their films. However, in the
same way that films which are violent or
contain crude language are not considered
as appropriate for children and are rated
accordingly, films with tobacco imagery
would not be rated for and marketed to
youth.
Movies help to shape social norms and are
an important source of information about
smoking for youth. However smoking
in movies does not reflect reality. Movie
smoking is mostly depicted among people
with a high socio-economic status, who
rarely smoke in reality, leading youth to
think it is more common than it really is.
With movies rarely showing the true health
consequences of tobacco use, smoking
imagery in movies is perceived by youth
as leading to positive social and personal
consequences.
Policymakers around the world are in
agreement that they need to take measures
to ensure that youth do not initiate tobacco
use. Implementing a comprehensive ban
on TAPS as required for Parties to the
WHO-FCTC is an important component
of preventing youth tobacco initiation.
However, governments which fail to take
serious action to limit tobacco depictions
in movies are disregarding an important
component of WHO FCTC Article 13 and
jeopardizing the lives of its youth.
n 35
January - March & April - June 2012