Govt. Report: Movies Really Do Get Teens to Smoke

Aug. 21, 2008— -- WASHINGTON -- A comprehensive report released today from the National Cancer Institute - theleading federal agency on cancer research - provides the government's strongest conclusion to date on the media's powerful and causal effect on tobacco use.

The report, Monograph 19 - The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, concluded what we in public health have known for many years: depictions ofsmoking in movies and tobacco marketing promote youth smoking.These facts are nonetheless illuminating because they are nowrecognized for the first time as fact by our federal government.

The report provides the ammunition to tobacco control advocatesaround the world who are fighting to keep movies smoke-free. Whilethe entertainment industry has taken positive steps to respond tothe growing international Smoke-Free Movies movement, there isstill some skepticism on the part of many influencers in theentertainment industry as to the magnitude of the effect moviesmoking has on youth smoking initiation.

The fact that the federalgovernment in this report is pointing out a causal link shouldprovide impetus for decision-makers to take the bold step to removesmoking from youth-rated films, once and for all.

The report also lends further credibility to existing mediacampaigns that have been proven to curb youth smoking, such as thefoundation's award-winning truth(R) campaign. In its first twoyears, truth(R) was credited with 22 percent of the decline inyouth smoking, but the annual budget for truth(R) is less than the$36 million our competitors in the tobacco industry spend in just24 hours to market their deadly products to consumers in the U.S.

Obviously, in a rapidly changing digital landscape,understanding the role of media in reducing or promoting tobaccouse is critically important as we continue working to fight thetobacco epidemic. With limited resources, the truth(R) campaign isreaching teens from big cities to rural towns in ways we didn'timagine 10 years ago.

Youth get a dose of truth(R) on socialnetworking sites like MySpace and Facebook, on the road at popularteen concerts throughout the summer and through ads on televisionand in theaters prior to movies.