Attorneys General Ask Movie Studios to Cut Smoking Scenes in Films Aimed At Youth

Attorneys general from 37 states have sent letters to 10 movie studio executives, asking them to stop showing smoking and tobacco in movies that are aimed at young audiences. They say these scenes encourage young people to smoke.

“Our concerns are grounded in science,” the attorneys general wrote in their letter. They note that the U.S. Surgeon General, in a report issued in March, found there is a “causal relationship between depictions of smoking in the movies and the institution of smoking among young people.” The report found that while images of smoking in movies had decreased over the past decade, in 2010, almost one-third of the top-grossing movies with ratings of G, PG or PG-13 had images of smoking, NBC Connecticut reports.

The attorneys general are asking film companies to include anti-tobacco spots on DVDs and Blu-ray videos of movies that show smoking. They want the companies to certify in the closing credits in future movies with images of smoking that no payoffs were made in connection with any depictions of tobacco use. They also are asking that future movies do not show displays of tobacco brands.