101 Dalmations (R); Not Intended for Children Under 17

Last week, the Harvard School of Public Health released materials to the Motion Picture Association about the impact of smoking in movies on youth and the need to eliminate cigarettes in film.

The cliff-notes version of the report is that children do not have the parenting and understanding to know that smoking is unhealthy. Therefore, the motion picture community needs to rectify the issue by demanding that any movie that has someone smoking in it be considered an “R” movie.

Petitions have been created to demand the motion picture industry remove smoking.

I have but a few unanswered questions about this before I make a comment on the issue. Who did they study? I seriously doubt in this day and time that any of the youth started smoking because they saw Audrey Hepburn smoking in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. How old is the data? 14 years old. What are the demographics of the smoking youth? What types of movies are the youth watching? Are they watching “R” rated movies to begin with? Do the other people in the family smoke? Does the study include the effects of drinking alcohol? Did they trend economic conditions with smoking or drinking?

A study was completed by the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in 1999 to determine how many G-rated animated films made between 1937 and 1997 by Walt Disney Co., MGM/United Artists, Warner Brothers Studios, Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox. 50 movies were reviewed and two-thirds of the movies had one or more animated characters that smoked, or drank alcohol.


What about the support of money in the movies? In the past blockbuster films were partially funded by cigarette companies. Ronald Reagan himself made commercials for cigarette companies to help pay for the show or film he was working. Tobacco companies fund a great portion of Hollywood. This includes the movies high quality movies as Baby Geniuses, Epic Movie, and Stomp the Yard. Without tobacco funding, the now average ticket price of $6.60 would end up turning into $15.00. Frankly, I can’t afford to take my kids to the theater as is, but to have to absorb the cost for the animated film “Doogal” because it fared poorly in the box office is beyond my means.

This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). Maybe, we should consider PARENTING our children instead of having the Motion Picture Association try to force an “R” rating on movies that shouldn’t be. The fact that they want to turn the evil smoke puffing Cruella Deville into the equivalent of Natural Born Killers is a bit extreme. How about instead, we explain to our children that if they smoke, “I will kill them before the lung cancer does!”

Hi kids! I love you! Daddy will be home soon and we can go watch "Meet the Robinsons." I heard there are smoking dinosaurs in the movie.

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