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AAP, public health groups call for R-rating on films that portray smoking
Seventeen public health and medical organizations have urged the American film industry to apply an R rating to all films that include depictions of smoking or other tobacco use.
In a joint letter signed by the AAP, American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association among others, the coalition requested that the film industry meet a June 1, 2018 deadline to stop the portrayal of tobacco products in youth-rated films.
“As physicians and advocates, we are speaking with a unified voice: Filmmakers must stop enabling the tobacco industry to target our children,” Fernando Stein, MD, president of the AAP, said in a press release. “The evidence is clear that when children see movie characters smoking, they are more likely to smoke. Ninety percent of smokers start smoking in their teen years, and many of them will battle a tobacco addiction that will eventually kill them. By rating movies appropriately, filmmakers can help protect the next generation from tobacco-related disease and death.”
In an MMWR report released on July 7, researchers with the CDC demonstrated that despite significant declines in tobacco depiction in youth-rated films from 2005-2010, progress toward elimination of tobacco depictions flatlined after 2010. Although depictions of tobacco use are currently uncommon in G- and PG-rated films, the researchers observed a 43% increase in the total number of tobacco-use incidents in PG-13-rated films over the previous 6 years.
“Glamorizing smoking on television and in movies influences young persons to smoke and is at odds with anti-smoking efforts that are so critical for the health of our nation,” Jack Ende, MD, president of the American College of Physicians, said in the release. “ACP, therefore, encourages the television, motion picture and media industries to join with the medical community in recognizing this problem and taking whatever steps are needed to limit this hazardous exposure.”
The revised R-rating guidelines, as outlined by the coalition, would apply to all films that depict smoking, with the exception of those that “exclusively portray actual people who used tobacco (as in documentaries or biographical dramas) or that depict the serious health consequences of tobacco use.”
“We urge the motion picture industry to listen to the collective plea of the nation’s physicians and once and for all apply an ‘R’ rating to films depicting cigarette smoking to help keep lethal, addictive tobacco products out of the hands of young people,” David O. Barbe, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in the release. “We will continue to advocate for more stringent policies and support efforts to protect our nation’s youth from the dangers caused by tobacco use.”
Reference:
Tynan MA, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017; doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6626a1.