On the eve of the World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the Bollywood and Hollywood film industry against glamourising tobacco use and allowing themselves to be used as vehicles of death and disease.
On the eve of the World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the Bollywood and Hollywood film industry against glamourising tobacco use and allowing themselves to be used as 'vehicles of death and disease'.
According to research carried out by the Centre for Tobacco Control, Research and Education at the University of California in San Francisco, between 1988 and 1997, 85 per cent of the top 25 Hollywood films dramatised tobacco use, and from 1999 to 2000, eight out of the 10 highest earning Hollywood films, rated for viewers 13 years of age and above, featured smoking.
"No Tobacco Day" demonstrations in Mumbai, and Hollywood, will highlight how the two industries are used to promote tobacco. Young people who see more tobacco use on the screen are much more likely to try smoking. Both the film industry and the tobacco companies know about it and the time has come to put an end to it.
The appeal comes a week after the WHO's 192 member states adopted the first global treaty calling for measures to reduce tobacco use. "No Tobacco Day" this year focuses on the role of the fashion and film industries in fostering a worldwide epidemic. The world of film and fashion cannot be accused of causing cancer. But they should not promote a product that does.
A WHO study on Indian films revealed that 80 per cent films depicted tobacco use. This is a very worrying trend, which urgently needs to be reversed. Film and fashion are critical in shaping and reinforcing popular norms of beauty, success and fun. Half of all smokers eventually die from their habit, yet smoking is still being promoted as glamorous, cool or macho.
According to research carried out by the Centre for Tobacco Control, Research and Education at the University of California in San Francisco, between 1988 and 1997, 85 per cent of the top 25 Hollywood films dramatised tobacco use, and from 1999 to 2000, eight out of the 10 highest earning Hollywood films, rated for viewers 13 years of age and above, featured smoking.
"No Tobacco Day" demonstrations in Mumbai, and Hollywood, will highlight how the two industries are used to promote tobacco. Young people who see more tobacco use on the screen are much more likely to try smoking. Both the film industry and the tobacco companies know about it and the time has come to put an end to it.
The appeal comes a week after the WHO's 192 member states adopted the first global treaty calling for measures to reduce tobacco use. "No Tobacco Day" this year focuses on the role of the fashion and film industries in fostering a worldwide epidemic. The world of film and fashion cannot be accused of causing cancer. But they should not promote a product that does.
A WHO study on Indian films revealed that 80 per cent films depicted tobacco use. This is a very worrying trend, which urgently needs to be reversed. Film and fashion are critical in shaping and reinforcing popular norms of beauty, success and fun. Half of all smokers eventually die from their habit, yet smoking is still being promoted as glamorous, cool or macho.
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