Doctors Worried Over Smoking Scenes in Movies

Doctors in Britain have raised their concerns over the smoking scenes shown in British movies. They feel these movies are ahead of Hollywood in inculcating the smoking habits in the people of Britain.

They feel movies that portray high level of tobacco consumption should be given a higher age rating. This change is needed because smoking on big screens appears fascinating to the young crowds and they are tempted to smoke. As per researchers from Nottingham University young minds pick up what they see on screen pretty fast and this is a serious problem as it is leading to heavy smoking habits.

The researchers went through high smoking influence movies released in UK between1989 and 2008. They concluded that smoking imagery and branding images in the most popular films have become substantially less common over the past 20 years, it was apparent that children and young people watching films in the UK are still exposed to frequent and, at times, specifically branded tobacco imagery, particularly in films originating from the UK.

Bridget Jones's Diary featured Renée Zellweger regularly smoking Silk Cut. The film was rated as suitable for anyone aged 15 or over but the impact the smoking scenes would have caused would have been huge.

The authors of novels whose books are used as base stories for movies call on the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to factor depictions of smoking much more heavily into its ratings, just as it already does for portrayals of violence and illicit drug use.

The board currently rates about two-thirds of films which portray smoking as suitable for viewing by under-18s as 18 is the legal age for smoking. But a lot of doctors are not against the current age classifications.

The British Television has put in a lot of efforts to reduce on screen smoking depiction but the film industry is not strict enough. Prof Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians feels that smoking is shown in a very glamorous way in movies this highly influences the minds of under 18s and a lot of such movies manage to get U certifications.

The tobacco companies have a long history of product placement in films aimed at children including the Muppet Movie and Superman. This is surprising as the UK laws are against tobacco advertising and on the other hand do not object in film tobacco promotion.

Entire world is fighting to eradicate smoking and reduce the risks of cancer and other deadly diseases. It is high time the British film industry stops showing in film smoking or at least follows strict guidelines while certifying such films.