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Movie DVDs to Include Smoking Warnings
July 14, 2008

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News Summary

All new movies released on DVD that include smoking scenes and are rated G, PG or PG-13 will now include antismoking ads that will appear before the movie begins, Reuters reported July 11.

The California Tobacco Control Program and a group of six major Hollywood studios announced an agreement to place the ads with movies that could be viewed by children. The participating studios are Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, and Twentieth Century Fox. The California tobacco-prevention agency will produce the ads.

"Placing these ads on DVDs will remind viewers that movies are fiction but the damage smoking does is real," said Lisa Paulsen, president of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

The American Legacy Foundation, an antismoking group, estimates that smoking appears in 75 percent of all G, PG, and PG-13 rated films.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by Adreeene on 15 Jul 08 09:57 AM EDT
Awesome, I think this is great. I wish they would put a warning on movies that show teenagers getting drunk that says: "Warning: though the drinking in this movie is portrayed as funny the real consequences of drinking underage are not....brain damage...alcohol poisoning, etc." Maybe someday our society will understand the dangers of underage drinking as much as we now understand the dangers of smoking.

Posted by Jim on 16 Jul 08 11:00 PM EDT
Is there no bastion of sanctuary left to escape the unmitigated onslaught of uninvited, unasked, and unbidden advertising? Is it too much to ask the favor of being able to watch a movie without being assaulted by every and any special-interest group that feels the ardent craving to empower themselves by telling others how to live? Perhaps, for those of us with more open minds and less controlling natures, we can charge the movie industry a nuisance fee for irritating content.

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