Purpose
The Smokefree Media project aims to end the film and video industries’ long usefulness to the tobacco industry's perpetual pursuit of new smokers. We continue research to inform evidence-based policy solutions designed to substantially reduce young audiences' exposure to on-screen smoking and create the strong counter-incentives needed to keep Big Tobacco out of entertainment media.
Recent Updates
Recently, a paper by Peter Kovacs, Ruth Malone, and Pam Ling, "Why are Branded Cigarettes in Streaming Media?: A Case Study of Netflix's Stranger Things," has been published in Tobacco Control. The study uses the highly popular Netflix series, first, to demonstrate why producers may use branded cigarettes in filmed entertainment even if they receive no compensation for it from the tobacco industry, and second, to suggest possible ways in which the negative effects of depicting tobacco use--branded or unbranded--could be mitigated without infringing on filmmakers' creative rights. As a visual companion to the article, this Smoke Free Media blog includes many more examples of the branded cigarette depictions in each season of Stranger Things.
A recent Truth Initiative report found more than half of top 2024 films featured tobacco imagery, exposing millions of Americans, including young adults, to vaping and smoking imagery. 51% of the top 152 box office films contained tobacco imagery, an increase from 41% in 2023.
History
This project was launched as Smokefree Movies by Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, professor of medicine at UCSF in 2001. View the historical version of the Smokefree Movies website. In 2020 the project name expanded to Smokefree Media in recognition of the growing importance of streaming video content as a vector to spread pro-tobacco images. Smokefree Media worked with medical and public health organizations, researchers, government agencies, legal authorities, socially responsible investors, and other partners around the world to improve public policy and film industry practice. While the site will no longer be updated, you can still access the Smokefree Media website.
We welcome dialogue with film producers, directors, actions, distributors, and exhibitors on this topic.
Past Research
Highlighted studies coming soon.