This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Adolescent Medicine  • Tobacco  • Humanities  • Medicine and the Media  • Alert me on articles by topic

Undermining Restrictions on Advertising Tobacco to Youth

Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH; Ella S. Watson-Stryker, BA; Jane Appleyard Allen, MA; Donna M. Vallone, PhD; Peter A. Messeri, PhD; Philip R. Graham, MBS; Anna M. Stewart, BS; M. David Dobbins, JD; Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:885-888.

Objective  To determine the proportion of televised movie trailers that included images of tobacco use during 1 year and the extent of youth exposure to those trailers.

Design  Content analysis combined with Nielsen data measuring media exposure. All movie trailers (N = 216) shown on television from August 1, 2001, through July 31, 2002.

Main Outcome Measures  Exposure among youth aged 12 to 17 years to televised movie trailers that included smoking imagery.

Results  Of the movie trailers televised during the study period, 14.4% (31 trailers) included images of tobacco use. Tobacco use was shown in 24.0% of the 23 trailers for R-rated (restricted) movies and 7.5% of the 8 trailers for PG-13– and PG-rated (parental guidance) movies. Ninety-five percent of all youth aged 12 to 17 years in the United States saw at least 1 movie trailer depicting tobacco use on television during this 1 year, and 88.8% saw at least 1 of these trailers 3 or more times.

Conclusions  Nearly all US youth aged 12 to 17 years were exposed to images of tobacco use on television in the context of a movie trailer during the study period. Given the relationship between youth exposure to tobacco use in movies and smoking initiation, the public health community should work to enact policy to reduce or eliminate the influence of tobacco use in televised movie trailers.

Author Affiliations: American Legacy Foundation, Washington, DC (Drs Healton and Vallone, Mss Watson-Stryker, Allen, and Stewart, and Mr Dobbins); Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY (Drs Healton and Messeri); Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (Dr Glantz); and Mother, New York (Mr Graham).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Exposure to Movie Smoking Among US Adolescents Aged 10 to 14 Years: A Population Estimate
Sargent et al.
Pediatrics 2007;119:e1167-e1176.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

In brief
BMJ 2006;333:618-618.
FULL TEXT