The battle against tobacco in the cinema to protect minors
Imagine any movie. It does not matter if it's a 'western', a 'thriller' or a 'love story', because in any event the same thing happens: at some point, an actor, probably one of the most popular of the film, will light a cigarette. This fact, so common in national and international cinema, conveys a dangerous message: smoking is fine. And not.
For this reason, many people rise up in a kind of 'battle' against the images of actors smoking in the movies. The last one to join this fight has been his own International Health Organization (WHO), which has requested governments to classify and show warnings in movies that show scenes with people smoking. The objective: to protect children and adolescents and prevent them from starting to smoke.
Cinema and tobacco
'Smoke free: evidence for action' is the name of the document prepared by the WHO in which it shows that films showing people smoking they end up causing "millions" of young people all over the world to start smoking. Something that happens despite the fact that, as explained by the director of the organization for the Department of Prevention of Non-Transmittable Diseases, Douglas Bettcher, "every time there are more restrictions on tobacco advertising."
Despite this, "the movies continue being one of the main channels in which it shows, without restrictions, the tobacco to millions of adolescents", Regrets the representative of the most important health body in the world.
Sort movies
As noted, studies conducted in the United States have shown that in 2014 44 percent of the films showed someone smoking, a percentage that was 36 percent in the case of movies rated for minors. This is why the WHO advocates classifying these films and, in turn, display warnings against tobacco before it begins. This measure, in his opinion, would prevent children from starting to smoke.
The studies mentioned by the organization assure that 59 percent of the films that won the box office between 2002 and 2014 (both in the United States and in other countries) contained tobacco images, which highlights the importance of the subject matter: children are continually exposed to images that tobacco shows as something common and that, in some way, must be done.
The WHO is blunt: it has requested "End" the display of tobacco brands in movies. "Countries around the world have taken steps to limit the images of tobacco in films," they say.
The program manager of the Initiative Tobacco Free WHO, Armando Peruga, recalled that China "has ordered not to show scenes that smoke excessively and India has implemented new rules on tobacco in films and television programs ". In this line, this expert has settled: "You can and should do more."
Angela R. Bonachera
