Young Britons More Likely To Take Up Smoking Thanks To Movies

Children in England see much more smoking in movies compared to their counterparts in the US and are more likely to pick up the habit as a result, finds research published in Tobacco Control.

The UK film classification system, which rates more films as suitable for young people than its US counterpart, is to blame, say the authors.

The research team assessed the number of on-screen smoking/tobacco occurrences in 572 top grossing films in the UK, which included 546 screened in the US plus 26 high earning films released only in the UK.

Because 79% of the films rated only for adults in the US ('R') were classified as suitable for young people in the UK, this meant that young Britons were exposed to 28% more smoking impressions in '15' or '12A' rated movies than their US peers, calculate the authors.



Young Britons More Likely To Take Up Smoking Thanks To Movies