Over the course of this year's summer blockbuster movie season, Universal Studios has "won" the distinction - among movie studios - of having delivered the most tobacco impressions to youth audiences.
Studies have shown that as much as one half of all new smoking by teens can be attributed to smoking in movies - and that exposure to tobacco imagery in movies predicts established smoking behavior in adolescents.
Hollywood studios know about the research linking on-screen tobacco imagery with youth smoking rates, yet they continue to produce G, PG and PG-13 movies that promote smoking! That includes this summer's Land of the Lost, a Universal film that was heavily marketed to children. Numerous tobacco images in the PG-13 film have resulted in as many as 125 million impressions.
Tell Universal Studios to stop promoting tobacco to children. Our kids deserve better!
Dear Universal Studios,
I am writing you today to ask that you do your part to end the influence of Big Tobacco on America's youth.
You "won" the dubious distinction of delivering the most tobacco impressions to children during this summer's blockbuster season. Numerous tobacco images in the PG-13 film, Land of the Lost, have resulted in as many as 125 million impressions being delivered to youth audiences.
Youth, with the highest exposure to smoking in movies, are nearly three times more likely to start smoking themselves. And smoking in movies is the most powerful pro-tobacco influence on kids today, accounting for as much as one half of all youth who start smoking.
It's time for Universal Studios and your parent company, General Electric, to stop marketing smoking to children.
Likewise, it's time for the MPAA, which is comprised of all of the major studio heads, to make good on its promise to include tobacco imagery as a factor in its ratings. The MPAA should give an R rating to any film with smoking, and studios should avoid this by doing the right thing: stop the promotion of tobacco to children.
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Thank you for your time and immediate action around this important matter.
CC: Dan Glickman, President, Motion Picture Association of America and Jeffrey Immelt, President, General Electric
