WHO calls for enforceable policies to restrict smoking in movies
Backed by evidence that smoking in movies causes youths to want to light up, the World Health Organization is calling upon countries to enact enforceable policies that would severely restrict such depictions...(read more)

Smoke Free Movies: Free Table Top Posters for Pediatric Offices
Tobacco imagery in movies strongly influences youth to become smokers, and more than 75% of recent PG-13 films depict smoking. The AAP supports rating movies that depict smoking “R”, including nonsmoking messages in trailer footage for movies that show smoking, eliminating tobacco product identification and certifying no payoffs. A new table top display about smoking in youth-rated movies is available free to AAP members. Sponsored by the AAP Richmond Center, AMA Alliance and the American Legacy Foundation, the displays include pre-paid postcards for parents/patients to send to the Motion Picture Association of America to encourage youth movies to be smoke free.  For a free table top display for your office, please contact the Richmond Center at richmondcenter@aap.org.

PRESS RELEASES

Smoke Free Movies Press Release (February 19, 2008)

The AAP Julius B Richmond Center has partnered with the Smoke Free Movies campaign to help reduce the exposure of smoking in movies to our youth. Smoke Free Movies is a project of Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The campaign aims to sharply reduce the U.S. film industry's usefulness to Big Tobacco's domestic and global marketing — a leading cause of disability and premature death. For more information visit:http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/.

The American Legacy Foundation is also a strong supporter of these efforts. The foundation is committed to tobacco use prevention and intervention by developing programs that address the health affects of tobacco use. They have collaborated with numerous prominent health and parent organizations to urge the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and major movie studios to adopt four evidence-based policies that would help counter the impact of smoking in movies on youth starting to smoke. For further details, please visit: www.americanlegacy.org

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