If someone came up to you and said “Hollywood recruits approximately 390,000 kids a year to start smoking” – what would your reaction be?
“Where could you possibly come up with a number like that?”
“Are you really claiming that Hollywood is really the reason kids start smoking – it has nothing to do with family or friends?”
“Don’t you realize that the amount of smoking in movies has been drastically reduced over the last decade – but you haven’t changed your numbers or your claims?
Or our own response: “What are you people? On dope?” (Apologies to Mr. Hand.)
Well, that’s the rationale that anti-smoking activists are using, now that they have a more friendly congress, to put the pressure on movie and TV studios to stop showing smoking on screen, period.
Among the “solutions” to this “problem” being discussed are:
- putting a TV PG or TV 14 rating on TV shows, and an R rating on movies, that contain smoking.
- setting up a “safe harbor” on television (similar to that already existing for indecency and profanity), so that shows with smoking can only be shown between 10pm and 6am.
- requiring the airing of anti-smoking public service announcements before the screening of any film showing smoking.
If it wasn’t so bizarre, it would be funny. But it’s not. Showing hideous scenes of dismembered bodies and incredible violence (we saw more than a dozen of them just over the last few days on TV) doesn’t require any special action. But the occasional scenes showing the exact same thing that kids can see in public every day requires draconian congressional action.
All we can say is…”What are you people? On dope?”