World Health Organization Calls for Tobacco Free Movies

In the third edition of Smoke-Free Movies Reports, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that all films that show smoking should be given an adult rating. By doing so, adolescents and young adults would have less exposure to tobacco products.

According to WHO, 36 percent of films viewable by adolescents in 2014 contained smoking. One of these films was Transformers: Age of Extinction, which had a total of 2.6 billion tobacco use impressions. These impressions sometimes lead to adolescents experimenting with different tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes.

WHO suggests that if filmmakers choose to show tobacco products in its films, they should refrain from displaying any brand names. They also suggest adding a disclaimer at the end of the movie stating that the filmmakers did not receive any endorsements from the tobacco product brands.