UPDATE: Tobacco in the Media

TUTD has once again collaborated with UCSF to look at the impact of the May 10 ratings announcement on tobacco in film by the MPAA on tobacco depictions in youth rated films. Unfortunately, our findings at 6 months are the same as at 5 months – the new policy has had no impact on the amount of tobacco portrayed in youth rated films.  We will be releasing the study to the media today (press released attached) and UCSF will be running an ad in Variety tomorrow. You can find the ad on the smokefree movies website http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/ourads/index.html. The complete report can be found at http://repositories.cdlib.org/ctcre/tcpmus/MPAA2007/.

A synopsis of the report can be found below. If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

CHIEF FINDINGS:

* No substantial change in the percentage of films with tobacco; tobacco incidents in films; or estimated tobacco impressions delivered to theater audiences, compared to the same six month period in the four preceding years.

* Although MPAA member companies and non-MPAA members released almost identical numbers of youth-rated films with tobacco in the survey period, indie films were three times more likely to receive tobacco descriptors than films from the major studios that control the MPAA.

* None of the nationally-released, top box office films with tobacco, youth-rated and released in the survey period, were given a tobacco descriptor. These unmarked films delivered an estimated three billion tobacco impressions to theater audiences in the U.S. and Canada. Two of these films had fifty or more tobacco incidents.

* All films receiving tobacco descriptors between May 10 and November 10 were given limited release (on a few screens only) or went straight to video. Their total box office was $3.7 million, compared to the $740 million earned by the top box youth-rated office movies NOT given tobacco tags.

* Tobacco descriptors on a majority of the small films used such words as "brief," "momentary" or "incidental" smoking. Two of the top box office, youth-rated films spared tobacco descriptors had 50 or more tobacco incidents.

* No film released to theaters in the survey period was up-rated for smoking content.