Although anti-tobacco advocates have appealed to the entertainment industry to make smoking less appealing and glamorous, Hollywood isn't listening. Compared to the national
rates of cigarette smoking, Hollywood filmmakers tend to exaggerate how popular lighting up is. The Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found that female film characters
smoke at a rate nearly 50% higher than the 24% rate among U.S. women between the ages of 18 and 44. Male characters smoke at a rate nearly 25% higher than the 29% of U.S. men in
the same age range who smoke.
The study analyzed 50 films released between 1993 and 1997, totaling 96 hours of footage. It found:
- female actors were just as likely to smoke in PG and PG-13 rated films as they were in R-rated films;
- when actresses smoked, they portrayed sex appeal, emotional control, power and comfort; and
- when actors smoked, they portrayed masculinity, power and prestige.
(Harvard School of Public Health, Robin Herman, 617/432-4752)