General Article The impact of smoking in films on young people

Topic Selected: Smoking and Health
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Introduction

There is a growing body of evidence from studies in the UK, the USA and elsewhere which shows that exposing young audiences to on-screen smoking and tobacco imagery has a strong impact on smoking initiation.

A study of ten- to 14-year-olds that had never smoked found that those most exposed to film smoking were more than four times more likely to take up smoking than those with least exposure. Other findings have revealed that adolescents whose favourite film stars smoke on scr...

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