Anti-smoking Groups Want R-Rating for Movies with Smoking Scenes

If you are an old movie buff, you know smoking scenes were quite common. In the old days of Hollywood, smoking was seen as glamorous and fashionable. In 1964, the Surgeon general released its first warnings about the dangers of cigarette smoking, but the trend continued to be popular in mainstream media and television .In the 1990's, multi-million dollar lawsuits were settled between the government and tobacco industry removing cigarette ads from television and billboards.

Now, the Motion Pictures Asociation of America faces a new challenge. Anti smoking groups across the country are pushing the movie industry to give movies an R-rating if the film contains excessive smoking. Some want an R-rating for any amount of smoking scenes and even tobacco usage. CEO of the Motion Pictures Association of America chairman Don Glickman says "The movie association chaired by Joan Graves will consider smoking a factor among many other factors including violence, sexuality, and language, and also includes characters who smoke, will get pushed into the R-rating". He also went on to say smoking is an unacceptable behavior in our society. So this means smoking will be placed in the same category as explicit sex, drugs, and language.

Research has shown the link between movies and a youth's decision to smoke. Impressionable youths may view smoking as glamorous and acceptable behavior if constantly exposed. With an R-rating, anyone under seventeen would need a parent to see the film. Between 2004 and 206 smoking scenes decreased in movies but are still depicted in seventy-five per cent of films. Surprisingly, many in the entertainment industry agree with the change in the ratings system and continue to warn about the dangers of smoking. The ratings board said "Depictions that glamorize smoking outside of historic and other mitigating content may receive a higher rating." This places smoking right on up there with explicit sex, violence, and swearing.

I have read mixed comments on this issue. Some feel giving smoking an R-rating is a little harsh.. Do children copy everything they see in movies? Children take up smoking for other reasons like peer pressure and if their parents smoke, they are more likely to take up smoking. Kids do not get influenced by everything related to movies and television but it can play a part. Hollywood has always set the standard for what is in fashion. In this case, with celebrities getting arrested for DUI all the time, maybe scenes with excessive drinking should also get an R-rating.