NCI: Tobacco Advertising, Smoking in Movies Contribute to Smoking Rates [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
Philip Morris [3] and the tobacco industry [4] in general have long insisted [3] that cigarette advertising has no influence whatsoever in getting people to start smoking, claiming it only influences existing adult smokers to change brands. But this week the National Cancer Institute [5] published an extensive, 684-page monograph [6] that evaluates current evidence regarding the power of the media to both encourage and discourage tobacco use. NCI found [7] that "The total weight of evidence -- from multiple studies, conducted by investigators from different disciplines, and using data from many countries -- demonstrates a causal relationship between tobacco advertising and promotion and increased tobacco use." NCI further concluded that smoking in the movies [8] causes more children to start smoking [9], saying "the depiction of cigarette smoking in movies is pervasive" and "the total weight of evidence ... indicates a causal relationship between exposure to depictions of smoking in movies and youth initiation."