Movies promote tobacco use amongst adolescents: The need for policies to prevent this phenomenon.

Abstract

Tobacco use is the primary preventable cause of death and disability in the world. To combat the tobacco epidemic, most countries have signed and ratified the World Health Organzation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Article 13 of this treaty requires implementation of a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Implementation guidelines for Article 13 recognize that the depiction of tobacco use in commercially-produced films promotes tobacco use amongst young people. In this article we review the relationship between the tobacco industry and the movie industry over the past 100 years; the cross sectional and longitudinal studies that demonstrate a causal relationship between exposure to movie smoking depictions and youth smoking initiation; and the policy interventions recommended by the WHO to limit youth exposure to tobacco in movies.