MPAA Ruling Smokes Out Critics

Fri., May. 11, 2007 11:19 AM PDT by Julie Keller

Several youth health organizations are smoking mad at the Motion Picture Association of America’s new rules on lighting up on the big screen.

The MPAA said Thursday that on-screen adult smoking will now play a bigger factor in movie ratings, which already take violence, sex and bad language into consideration.

While this is a step forward for nicotine naysayers (underage smoking was previously the only puff-focused factor), many anti-tobacco groups who had been gunning for an automatic R rating on any movie that contains smoking say it isn’t a big enough step to stamp out teen smoking.

"We are deeply disappointed that the movie ratings policy announced today by the Motion Picture Association of America falls short of the real change needed to reduce youth exposure to smoking in the movies," Matthew L. Myers, President of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement on Thursday.

MPAA chairman Dan Glickman begged to differ, arguing that providing movie-going parents with such phrases as "glamorized smoking" or "pervasive smoking" in descriptions for films that show smoking makes the most sense.

"Clearly, smoking is increasingly an unacceptable behavior in our society," he said in a statement. "There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine's highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit. The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue."

Glickman also added that the number of films that feature stars lighting up has dropped from 60 percent to 52 percent in the past two years.

The only stipulation in the new ruling are films where smoking is historically important, like the depiction of chain-smoking journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck. The film’s PG rating, which allowed kids in the theaters, would still stick today, one MPAA official told Reuters.

Despite the concerns of the MPAA's detractors, some healthy living organizations are lauding the film association's efforts. John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, filmmaker Rob Reiner and Barry Bloom, Dean of Harvard's School of Public Health, are among the supporters of the new ruling.

Nonetheless Myer and several colleagues aren’t budging on the issue, citing surveys that claim smoking is far more prevalent in movies than in real life and insisting the MPAA must do more. "The depiction of smoking in the movies reinforces tobacco industry marketing and contributes in a significant way to youth tobacco use," he said.