December 7, 2012

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

Sony announces policy on smoking in movies

Sony Pictures Entertainment just announced that is has a policy on smoking in movies (effective December 1, 2012).

The policy states:

  • Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is committed to reducing depictions of tobacco use in the films produced by the company or any wholly-owned film division.
  • SPE has adopted a standard protocol to identify, and where appropriate and feasible, eliminate portrayals of tobacco use.
  • In particular, there will be a working presumption that youth-rated films produced and distributed in the United States shall not feature depictions of tobacco use unless there is a compelling creative justification that may include, but is not limited to, factors such as historical accuracy or an important tie to the creative context of the project and vision of the filmmaker.
  • SPE will continue its existing policy of not entering into product placement arrangements in connection with the depiction of tobacco products. As part of the commitment to this long-standing ban, SPE will, on a going forward basis, indicate in the end credits of films with tobacco depictions that no product placement arrangement was made.
  • With regard to film acquisitions, co-productions, and films produced and distributed outside of the United States, Sony Pictures Entertainment may have limited influence over the content. In these instances, SPE will discourage depictions of tobacco use where reasonable and practical.
  • And finally, Sony Pictures Entertainment strongly supports the continued use of a smoking descriptor in a youth-rated film's MPAA rating so that consumers can make an informed choice when deciding whether a film is appropriate.

The fact that Sony, which recently released Skyfall, which has already delivered over a billion tobacco impressions in the US and UK alone, has announced is "is committed to reducing depictions of tobacco use" is a step forward in that it represents the first acknowledgement of Sony that smoking in the movies is a problem. 

Unfortunately, the policy is filled with loopholes, most notably that smoking would still be permitted when "there is a compelling creative justification that may include, but is not limited to, factors such as historical accuracy or an important tie to the creative context of the project and vision of the filmmaker."  In other words, they can include smoking whenever they feel like it.

The "historical" exception is also overly broad.  The policy recommended by the public health community is limited to actual historical figures who actually smoked.

Under this policy, Sony could give the smoking in Skyfall a pass.  After all, who decides when there is a "compelling creative justification" to have Bond girl smoke? 

The policy is also limited to films produced by Sony or one of its wholly owned subsidiaries that are distributed in the United States.

The certification of no payoffs commitment is a step forward by is limited to product placement, leaving the door open to a wide range of other kinds of inducements to include smoking in a movie.  Sony's certification is much more limited than Time-Warner's, which states "No entity associated with this film received payment or anything of value, or entered into any agreement, in connection with the depiction of tobacco products.”

The "strong" endorsement of "descriptors" is misleading.  As we have documented, the MPAA has only applied these descriptors to a small fraction of films (including Skyfall) and there is no evidence that doing so has actually reduced youth exposure to on-screen smoking in a way that an R-rating for smoking would. with smoking.

Bottom line: Sony has finally recognized that there is a public demand to do something about smoking in movies, but it is still just pretending do address the issue.

You can find Sony's policy at http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/help.html, click "Motion Pictures," then "5. What steps is Sony Pictures taking in the U.S. to reduce the depiction of tobacco use in its films?"

 

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.