September 12, 2016

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

With a loophole this large, does Disney have an effective policy to keep smoking out of its movies?

Disney has a firm policy about on-screen smoking, except for DreamWorks movies carrying its Touchstone label. 
 
The latest is The Light Between Oceans, a PG-13 drama that shows star Rachel Weisz, another credited actor, and four extras smoking fewer than ten times, but delivering millions of tobacco impressions to audiences.
 
Touchstone has been Disney's distribution channel for other PG-13 DreamWorks films with smoking such as The Help, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies. Disney's distribution agreement with DreamWorks was supposed to end in May 2016, with The BFG. Universal is set to release DreamWorks' R-rated The Girl on the Train in October 2016.
 
But now it's September 2016. The Light Between Oceans becomes the sixth PG-13 DreamWorks film with smoking Disney has released in the last five years (Disney film list). And there's no sign of stopping.
 
Bottom line? Disney's policy seems to bar smoking — except for its movies that include smoking. Other major studios' tobacco depiction policies explicitly declare that they don't cover movies the studios haven't financed 100% or only distribute. That can add up to a lot of excuses across Hollywood.
 
To protect young audiences, the studios need to adopt the industry-wide R-rating for tobacco and apply that standard transparently to every movie, every producer, and every studio label.
 
This blog post was prepared by Jonathan Polansky and is cross-posted from the Smoke Free Movies blog at http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/blog/loophole-large-does-disney-have-effective-policy-keep-smoking-out-its-movies

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