TOBACCO IN MOVIES AND IMPACT ON YOUTH - Smoke Free ...

The Questions and their rationale
Tobacco in Movies & Impact on Youth
The subjects on which opinion was sought included questions asking;
1) If the respondent could recall any tobacco brand seen in the movie? This
was to see the impact or brand recall factor of any tobacco products which
was visible in the movie. The respondents were also asked to name the
movie/brand in the next question.
2) If the respondent ever felt a desire to smoke or just hold a cigarette in his
hand? The next question asked if he/she had ever held any article like
cigarette so as to emulate any film actor smoking. The answers to these
questions provide the real cue of the influence movies cause on young
minds and also of acceptability of tobacco in their lives. Those answering
“Yes” to any of these three questions could be put in the high risk group.
3) If the respondent felt that people follow movie stars in smoking? The
answer to this question provides an indication about the impact of showing
tobacco on his/or her mind projected through another person.
4) If the respondents felt that by not showing tobacco in the movie the quality
of the movie be affected in any way or it would affect his decision to
watch the movie? The answer provides cue to the importance and
seriousness a regular movie viewers attach to the expression of emotions,
situations, etc. because of tobacco usage and how important they think it is
to show tobacco in movies. The answer to this question is an indicator to
the importance general public gives to tobacco in movies.
5) There were questions to know whether they had ever consumed tobacco or
any of the family members consume tobacco? Those who answered in
affirmation about their using tobacco, they were asked to answer another
ten questions asking about the quantity of tobacco they smoked and if they
had ever lighted a cigarette in the style of any film actor. They were also
asked about if they thought that movies influenced their smoking
initiation.
The answers to these questions give a reasonable idea about the influence and
impression created on a lay persons mind. The evaluated responses provide an
indicator about the role of mass media images in influencing youngsters to
have a favourable image of tobacco which pushes them towards the actual
consumption of tobacco.
Process of data collection, respondents and
validation
There were a total of 1126 respondents. The questionnaires were self administered
in presence of a neutral facilitator (a volunteer for all physical collection of the
questionnaire) of the same age group and socio-economical background. The
collection of the questionnaire was done on-the-spot. Survey was also made
available through internet. Only one response per IP address was acceptable and
was screened for geographical location based on the IP address of the respondents.
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