Tobacco Documents Online

STAT Stop Teenage Addiction to Tobacco CALIFORNIA OFFICE Health Promotion Resource Center 1000 Welch Rd. Palo Afto, CA 94304-1885 (455)723-QG53 NATIONAL OFFICE P.O. Box 60658 Longmeadow, MA 01116 (413)567-2070 The Honorable Thomas Luken July 16, 1989 2368 Rayburn Bldg .it3YlS€3RYCi)t1NfC7t Washington, D{.' 20515 David Altman. sn.D. Associate Director, Health gromoluxs Resource cencer, Stanford University John F. Banzhaf Executive DlreUor, Aciton on SnioNing and fiwth and Law Professor George Washington Un3versity Neat Eenowifi. M.D. AssistarR Protessortrtlnierna3 Medicine and Pltamrasotogy: UCSF Greg Conng!!y, D.M.D. Director, Divis'Km of Dental iieaitTr, Mauac?ausatts cerrartment of Public Reaft Richard Daynard F_eecuitie Director. Iobacca Products Liability Fro7ec€ and k.mr Fso€essor. tlorttieascem University Virginia Emsier. PtLD, Assodrate Professor of EPidemioio&. UCSF Dear Representative Luken: Thank you for inviting me to make comments on the subject of tobacco advertising in motion pictures. These written comments accompany a videotape which includes excerpts from three movies in which tobacco companies paid to have their cigarette brands featured. STAT is a nonprofit educationall organization founded in 1985. Our goals are to eliminate the sale of tobacco to minors, and to raise public awareness of environ- mental factors that influence young people to use tobacco, the most important of which is advertising. STAT publishes the Tobacco and Youth Reporter, which has international circulation of 65,000. K.H. GrnZQr. M.D. Professor of Phanswcotgy ana The tT. S. Surgeon General has stated that smoking 7o>RCOtov,urtiversityofArkanmaslor prevention is the most important public health issue Medical Scen"S kTichaet Pertschuk CtrDisec4sx. The Advocacy 1nsri:ute and Former Chairman. Federa4lrade Commission John W. Richards, M.D. President DDG [Uoctors oa3q3st to Carel arvl Assistant Professor Family Adedicine. Medical College of Georgia Ruth Roemer AcVinct Professor of Health Law. UCLA and Pasi-Aresideni American Public Health Assoc3atkon John Starfe, M.D. Assistant Professor of Clinical Ms4k,ne. 41MDNS-E#obert Wood Johnson Medwut School Jesse L. Steinfeld, M.o. Former tf.S, surgeon General and Former Presideni. Medical coleege of Ge"" William E. Townsley Trial Attorney aexi Founder of ctgare4ia u4stlon Joe B. Tye £lilef OpesaElne SMSlcer. 9aysFele Medicai Cen#e€, S~W## MA Kenneth E. Warner. shsz. Praiessor. Public Health PoW-7 and Adm:n,s£radi«n. universdy of Mk"- Eiizabeth M. WFtetan, se.D. E"cu2tst! DaSCtor. Aritei3Catf Council on 8crance and Health Sally Tye Membership Director our tI-me. Unfortunately, we are losing on the most of criticall front: preventing young people from becoming addicted to tobacco. Although impressive strides have been made in reducing adult smoking, smoking among children and adolescents has not only failed to decline in recent years, but it is actually rising. A recent Gallup poll indicates that smoking among the 13-to-17 year-old age group has increased from 10% in 1987 to 13% today. The recent increase in youth smoking has both supply and demand factors. On the supply side, cigarettes and other tobacco products are almost universally accessible to minors. STAT has conducted studies all over the country in which children as young as 11 have purchased cigarettes in 75% of retail outlets. In Santa Clara County, California we sent I4-to-i6 year olds to 412 retail stores and 30 cigarette vending machines. Notwithstanding the fact that it is illega3l to sell cigarettes to minors under age 18, they were successful at 73% of stores and 100% of vending machines. A $50,000 educational campaign reduced over- the-counter cigarette sales to 39%, though vending machine sales remained at 100%. The sad fact is that although the nicotine in tobacco is a powerfully addictive and lethal drug, it is easily accessible to children through regular retail channels. TIMN 291904

Representative Luken, page 2 Demand for tobacco products among young people is stimulated by tobacco company advertising and promotion, which in recent years has been more aggressively targeted at children and adolescents. The dominant themes in many cigarette ads are designed to appeal to youngsters. For young males, ads associate smoking with risk-taking, rebelliousness, and athletic excellence. For young females, they equate smoking with independence, popularity, and being thin. Cigarette ads are most prevalent in sports, entertainment, and sexually-oriented magazines that are read by many teenagers. one of the least recognized, but probably most effective, means that tobacco companies use to promote smoking among young people is cigarette advertising embedded in popular motion pictures. For a nominal fee, tobacco companies can arrange to have their cigarettes showcased in a particular film. An evident quid pro quo is that one or more leading characters will smoke in a way that glamorizes the act. The power of subliminal advertising covertly embedded in movies was explained by Robert Kovoloff of Associated Film Promotions, a firm that helps manufacturers place their products in movies, as follows: "Seeing a product, even for a second, in a realistically dramatic setting in which the viewer is already emotionally involved leaves an invaluable impression.t' Young people are particularly susceptible to being influenced. For example, in the months after Reese's Pieces were promoted in the movie ;iE.T.;3 sales skyrocketed. Subliminal cigarette in motion pictures has been a subject several articles in the Tobacco and Youth Reporter (Attachments 1-A, B, and C). We have identified more than two dozen movies which we believe contain paid cigarette advertising; we think there are hundreds of others. The National Coalition on Television Violence studied 133 movies between July, 1987 and June, 1988. Cigarette smoking was found in 87% of PG rated films, and in 100% of PG-13 rated films. Many of these movies had specific cigarette brand identifications. There can be no doubt that children and adolescents are the chief target of these covert cigarette ads. Youngsters under the age of 20 purchase 40% of all movie tickets sold in this country. They are a substantial majority of the audiences for films like "Superman II." The placement of cigarette ads in these movies is a clear violation of the tobacco industries own Code of Advertising Ethics. Following several movies which have prominent cigarette brand placements coupled with conspicuous smoking behavior: TIMN 291905

Representative Luken, page 3 In "Two of a Kind," starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, one of God's messengers drives a bus with a huge Camel ad on the side. In a masterfu3l association of forbidden fruits, the devil tempts the angels with scantily-clad young ladies with the Camel ad serving as a conspicuous backdrop. In the final scene, God's messenger asks Travolta for a cigarette. In "The Heavenly Kid" a 1950s teenager who is killed in a game of automobile chicken is given a chance to earn his way into heaven by helping a 1980s teenager--who turns out to be his illegitimate son--become a man. Integral to the lesson is learning to smoke Pall Mall cigarettes. The theme of divine approval of smoking continues in "Heaven Help tls, n about a Catholic prep school. A priest walks in on a party at the local drug store. The kids sheepishly put out their cigarettes until the priest orders a pack of Chesterfields and asks one of his young charges for a light. Then the lighters flash and the party resumes. The Steven Spielberg movie "Batteries Not Included" includes two scenes in which a Salem cigarette billboard is prominently displayed. Both of the elderly protagonists smoke (without evident health problems). In one scene, a cute little anthropomorphic spaceship with a built-in cigarette lighter fires-up the old man's cigar. "Crimes of the Heart" is hardly more than an extended commercial for Marlboro Lights cigarettes. Beautiful Jessica Lange chainsmokes in a slow, exaggerated manner that seems designed to showcase the "pleasures" of smoking. Yn the Walt Disney movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" detective Eddie Valiant bums several Lucky Strike cigarettes from a teenager. A Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement appears twice prominently on center screen. In another scene, cartoon character Bettie Boop offers Valiant several packs of Camel cigarettes. A more recent Walt Disney movie that includes specif ic cigarette brand promotion is "Honey I Shrank the Kids.;; A father's attempts to sneak cigarettes are treated in a cute manner that trivializes the compelling reasons for quitting. In one scene, his wife discovers a pack of Camels in his baseball cap and holds them for a lingering second in front of the camera. Other Walt TIMN 291906

I Representative Luken, page 4 Disney movies with cigarette advertising include "Baby" (Marlboro) and "Splash" (Carlton). In "Supergirl," for which the Liggett tobacco company paid $30, 000 to have an Eve cigarette billboard featured on two separate occasions, several of the villains smoke in a highly exaggerated manner that emphasizes the rebelliousness of smoking--a characteristic that makes smoking attractive to many adolescents. The Philip Morris tobacco company. paid $42,500 to have its Marlboro brand appear in the movie "Superman II." The logo appeared approximately two dozen times.Lois Lane, a nonsmoker in the comics, becomes a Marlboro smoker in the movie. In one scene she is depicted, cigarette dangling from her lips, assuring a silently acquiescing Clark Kent that eating oranges will keep her in perfect health. Ads for Kent and Rich Lights cigarettes also appear in this movie. American Brands paid a promotional fee to have its Lucky Strike cigarettes featured in "Beverly Hills Cop." In the opening=scene, Eddie Murphy holds a pack of Luckies in front of the camera and says "These are very popular cigarettes with the children." He goes on to add "I smoke king-size Kents." Fhili-p Morris paid $35a, 0t?tI for the right to have a pack of Lark cigarettes (which it markets internationally under agreement with Liggett) shown as a bomb detonator in the film "Licence to Kill." There are 13 different scenes in which one or more characters are shown smoking cigarettes or cigars. Ian Fleming's James Bond did not smoke, nor did Sean Connery; Timothy Dalton, the new Bond, does. in one scene, beautiful Carey Lowell, nervous about Bond's safety, lights a cigarette--her first, she says--in five years. In "Ghostbusters II'' there are two Marlboro ads and one Kool cigarette ad. In "Batman" a crook lights up a cigarette and then lays a pack of Camels on his leg for the camera to pick up. Many of the characters in this movie smoke. Movies are far more effective at creating smoking role models than two-dimensional print or outdoor ads. When rock star Madonna smokes Camels in "Desperately Seeking Susan" or heart-throb Tom Cruise smokes Marlboros in "Risky Business," they send a powerful message to impressionable teens who dress, act, and probably smoke like their matinee idols.

Representative Luken, page 5 When Philip Morris was able to arrange for Lois Lane, the ambitious young reporter pursuing the Pulitzer Prize, or the attractive young postgraduate archaeology student in 'lBaby" to smoke Marlboros, they created influential smoking role models for teenage girls. These role models are all the more effective because youngsters are being influenced without their knowledge (or permission). I recently spoke with a group of high school students, many of whom were smokers. Almost aIIl of them denied being influenced by advertising, but most remembered the scene where Eddie Murphy was holding a pack of Lucky Strikes in "Beverly Hills Cop." They were incredulous when informed that a tobacco company had paid for the plug. History is repeating itself. During the 1930s and 40s, tobacco companies paid.l.itera.lly thousands of movie and sports stars to endorse their cigarette brands. Today, many aging smokers will say that they started to be like these celebrities. It is likely that millions of young Americans will become addicted to tobacco in imitation of their heroes, unaware of tobacco company advertising payments. Twenty years ago the Congress enacted legislation to outlaw broadcast cigarette advertising because of its potential to influence children. 'Today,-the logic is just as compelling for cinematized tobacco advertising. Motion pictures are a major source of entertainment for young people. Tobacco company payola has created a situation where cigarette smoking is ubiquitous in movies, including many movies made for children. We believe that aIIl tobacco brand depictions should be prohibited in motion pictures. This would not effect the rights of movie producers to include smoking scenes where required for artistic reasons. It would, however, eliminate temptations to modify scripts to include smoking scenes in order to receive tobacco company payments, in-kind contributions, gratuities, or other inducements. It wou also assure that cigarette ads in movies are not rebroadcast on television, which violates the spirit if not the letter of laws prohibiting broadcast tobacco advertising. Thank you again for the opportunity to make these remarks. Sincerely, Joe B. Tye President TIMN 291908