BMJ 2002;324:190 ( 26 January )

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Advertisement criticising film for promoting tobacco is censored

An advertisement, attacking the film In the Bedroom for indirectly promoting Marlboro cigarettes, has been banned by Variety, one of Hollywood's most influential magazines.

The advertisement from the campaigning group Smoke Free Movies, based in San Francisco, points out that Sissy Spacek, who plays the lead role in the film, not only chain smokes, but broods over a Marlboro pack and specifically asks a grocer for "Marlboro Lights." Another character in the film demands a pack of "Marlboro Reds."

"Is this sloppy writing, sophomoric symbolism, corruption or cluelessness?" the advertisement asks. Further on, it says: "Tobacco company files show they've offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to place their brands in movies." Although the industry told Congress in 1989 that it had halted the practice, on-screen smoking by screen actors has kept climbing, it adds.

Variety magazine, which has previously carried advertisements from Smoke Free Movies, has refused this particular advertisement, saying that its content "can be construed as specifically detrimental to a single entertainment property."

Annabel Ferriman, BMJ

© BMJ 2002
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Relevant Article

Effect of seeing tobacco use in films on trying smoking among adolescents: cross sectional study
James D Sargent, Michael L Beach, Madeline A Dalton, Leila A Mott, Jennifer J Tickle, M Bridget Ahrens, and Todd F Heatherton
BMJ 2001 323: 1394. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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