Chest
Volume 128, Issue 2, August 2005, Pages 746-754
Journal home page for Chest

Clinical Investigations
Smoking in Contemporary American Cinema

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.128.2.746Get rights and content

Objective

The true prevalence of smoking among characters portrayed in the movies is unknown. This study examines this prevalence objectively

Design

The top 10 movies on the weekly box office charts were reviewed. Whether or not the top five characters in these movies smoked, was documented. It was determined prior to the start of the study that 300 male characters and 300 female characters were needed to detect any significant difference. A total of 447 movies, composed of 193 movies rated restricted (R) [children < 17 years of age must be accompanied by an adult], 131 movies rated PG13 for parental guidance suggested for children < 13 years of age (PG) and 123 movies rated PG for parental guidance suggested, were examined until the sample size was reached

Results

Smoking prevalence is the same in contemporary American movies and in the general US population (23.3% vs 24.8%, respectively). However, there was more smoking in these movies among men than among women (25.5% vs 20.5%, respectively; p < 0.006), among antagonists than among protagonists (35.7% vs 20.6%, respectively; p < 0.001), lower vs middle vs upper socioeconomic class (SEC) [48.2%, 22.9%, and 10.5%, respectively; p < 0.001], among independent vs studio movies (46.2% vs 18.2%, respectively; p < 0.001); and among R-rated vs PG13-rated vs PG-rated movies (37.3%, 16.2%, and 8.1%, respectively; p < 0.001). In R-rated movies, and in both subcategories of R-rated studio movies and R-rated independent movies, smoking prevalence is higher than in the US population (37.3%, 30.5%, and 50.6% vs 24.8%, respectively; p < 0.001 for all). Additionally, compared to the US population, men, women and lower SEC members smoke more in R-rated movies, R-rated studio movies, and R-rated independent movies. In R-rated movies, antagonists smoke more than protagonists (43.9% vs 35.8%, respectively; p < 0.001), and whites smoke more than nonwhites (38.3% vs 26.4%, respectively; p < 0.001). In R-rated studio movies, antagonists smoke more than protagonists (42.6% vs 26.6%, respectively; p < 0.001), and men smoke more than women (32.0% vs 27.9%, respectively; p = 0.03). In R-rated independent movies, whites smoke more than nonwhites (51.8% vs 40.5%, respectively; p < 0.001). Smoking prevalence is higher in R-rated independent movies than in R-rated studio movies (50.6% vs 30.5%, respectively; p < 0.001). Smoking prevalence is also higher in R-rated independent movies than in R-rated studio movies in subcategories of men (32.0% vs 49.8%, respectively; p < 0.001), women (21.8 vs 51.8%, respectively; p < 0.001), protagonists (26.6% vs 51.6%, respectively; p < 0.001), whites (31.5% vs 51.8%, respectively; p < 0.001), nonwhites (24.7% vs 40.5%, respectively; p < 0.001), and all three SECs

Conclusions

In contemporary American cinema, the smoking prevalence is higher for men, antagonistic characters, lower SEC, independent movies, and R-rated movies. Smoking prevalence is higher than in the general US population in R-rated movies, and in both its subcategories of R-rated studio movies and R-rated independent movies. There is more smoking in R-rated independent movies than in R-rated studio movies. Smoking in contemporary American cinema is associated with male sex, lower SEC, and antagonistic (ie, bad) characters

Section snippets

Hypothesis

The null hypothesis is that the prevalence of cigarette smoking is the same among the leading characters in contemporary American movies and in the general US population.

Materials and Methods

Contemporary American movies released after 1990 were included. Only movies rated as parental guidance suggested (PG), parental guidance suggested for children < 13 years of age (PG13), and restricted (R) [ie, children < 17 years of age must be accompanied by an adult] were included. G-rated and science fiction movies were excluded as they may not portray real life. The majority of the story in the movie had to occur in the 1990s. Movies that did not take place in the 1990s were excluded

Results

A total of 447 movies were reviewed (R-rated, 193; PG13-rated, 131; and PG-rated, 123). Of the 447 movies, 68 (15%) had been reviewed by more than one reviewer. Of those 68 movies, 23 (one third) were reviewed by more than two reviewers. There was complete concordance among different reviewers as to whether or not the top five characters smoked cigarettes at any time during these movies.

Discussion

This is the first study to objectively quantify the prevalence of smoking in contemporary American movies. This methodology can be applied to study smoking in other art forms, such as video, television shows, or theater. Equally as important, this study challenges many of the myths about smoking in the movies.

The number of movies released theatrically in the United States each year has varied from a high of 491 in 1988 to a low of 370 in 1995.15 Only 6% of these movies are rated G 16 (ie,

Conclusion

The scientific study of an art form such as motion pictures is fraught with difficulty. As such, previous studies have used arbitrary means to quantify the prevalence of smoking in the movies. This article introduced a methodology that can be applied to quantitatively study such notions such as prevalence, objectively.

We demonstrated that, although the smoking prevalence is not higher in movies than in the general population overall, it is higher in movies that are targeted at youth (ie, the

References (25)

  • PA Madden et al.

    The frequency and nature of alcohol and tobacco advertising in televised sports, 1990 through 1992

    Am J Public Health

    (1994)
  • Burns D, Pierce JP. Tobacco use in California 1990–91. Sacramento, CA: Department of Health Service,...
  • Cited by (15)

    • Portrayals of character smoking and drinking in Argentine-, Mexican- and US-produced films

      2016, Preventive Medicine
      Citation Excerpt :

      The association between film character smoking and multiple risk behaviors and other substance use is consistent with published literature on the association between smoking and use of multiple substances in the population (Everett et al., 1998b; Lewinsohn et al., 1999). Finally, smoking was also associated with being a negative as opposed to a positive character, again consistent with prior research (Dalton et al., 2002; Omidvari et al., 2005). In this way, it appears that smoking is being used as a plot device to communicate negative, or bad guy personality traits.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml)

    View full text