US
A group of Democrat senators is encouraging the new head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPPA) to ensure “responsible” practices when it comes to displaying the use of tobacco in films, believing that will stop young people from taking up smoking.
In a letter sent to Charles Rivkin, MPPA c.e.o., the senators cite a 2012 study by the US Surgeon General that found “a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in the movies and initiation among young people.”
The senators’ letter went on to state, “Although evidence connecting smoking imagery to youth smoking initiation is strong, MPAA has yet to take meaningful action to discourage tobacco imagery in films or effectively warn viewers and parents of tobacco’s presence in a movie. Our nation’s dramatic decline in youth tobacco use is a tremendous achievement, but on-screen depictions remains a threat to this progress and threaten to re-normalize tobacco use in our society,” the letter said. “We cannot afford to lose any ground in this area.”