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Does life imitate movies or do movies imitate life? Who cares? What impact could the answer to that question possibly have on you and your life? Actually this question has been the source of much discussion in recent years. You may be surprised to find that you are influenced more than you think.
Behind the smoke screen
More
than 40 years ago, on Jan. 11, 1964, the surgeon general of the United
States first released a report recognizing that smoking was a cause of
cancer and other serious diseases.
The report stated that smoking was a health hazard serious enough to warrant efforts to get people to stop.
Some progress was made, but the percentages of people smoking began to rise again in the 1990s, particularly among certain ethnic groups. Lawsuits were brought against the tobacco industry by many state governments who claimed, among other things, that tobacco advertising was often misleading.
In November 1998 the tobacco industry settled the lawsuit. The total payout of the settlement by the tobacco industry is expected to total $246 billion (U.S.) over 25 years—and the states promised to use a significant portion of that money to combat the enormous health problems associated with tobacco use.
What does all this have to do with movies? Recent studies have shown a link between movies depicting smoking as a positive, normal and widespread behavior in society and the number of young people who begin smoking. In the last four or five years researchers at Dartmouth Medical School (Hanover, New Hampshire) have done numerous studies on smoking among American young people and movies. Among other facts, their studies have found:
• Among teens who had never smoked, those whose favorite stars smoked in three or more films were
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