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A still from the Screening Out Smoking counter ad |
Please join us in asking the NSW Government to take action to protect young people from harmful exposure to smoking images in movies.
Do you remember the days when the Marlboro Man rode across Australia's cinema screens, promoting smoking as a way to be rugged and manly?
And when Stuart Wagstaff enticed cinema goers with Benson and Hedges cigarettes “when only the best will do”.
Well the ads have gone but the glamorous images of smoking film stars remain.
Screening Out Smoking Campaign
The Cancer Council NSW is disturbed by the growing evidence that – just like the ads - the attractive portrayal of smoking in movies significantly increases the likelihood that young people will start smoking. For example, one US study showed that more than half of the smoking initiation by young people aged 10 to 14 years could be attributed to the smoking in the movies they watched.
We believe that NSW adolescents are just as much at risk. Just like the ads, movies show smoking as a way to relieve stress and be cool, sexy, rebellious and independent. The smoking in movies rarely shows the reality of smoking with its huge financial, social and health costs.
However there is a practical solution which will protect young people at minimal cost to the government and with no disruption to the movie. There is good evidence that running an anti-smoking ad before movies that feature smoking images which are attractive to young people counteracts the effects of seeing these glamorous images. The NSW government already runs anti-smoking ads on TV. We're asking them to put some of these ads in cinemas. Or they can use an ad we've already made for them.
Campaign launch
On Sunday August 13, The Cancer Council NSW successfully launched the Screening Out Smoking campaign at Hoyts at Fox Studios. More than 130 people turned out and joined us for a special preview screening of the new movie Thank You For Smoking.
To help launch the campaign, David Stratton, film critic and co-host of ABC TV's At the Movies, showed his support for the campaign by providing the audience with an insightful look at the history of smoking in film.
The audience also heard from 16 year old Prue Mottram about her thoughts and experiences as a young person targeted by the glamorise portrayal of smoking in movies.
The event was also attended by various sections of the media and gained strong coverage throughout the day on commercial radio and the major evening TV news bulletins.
Learn more about the Screening Out Smoking campaign:
Click here to learn more about the harmful effects of Smoking in Movies.
Our submission to the NSW Government
With the Public Health Act (1991) currently under review, The Cancer Council (NSW) has sent a submission to the NSW Minister for Health, Hon. John Hatzistergos, asking him to amend section 61B(3) of the Act. The proposed amendment would require government approved anti-smoking ads to be run before movies which are aimed at adolescents and have attractive or high levels of smoking in them. It would be simple and practical for film distributors to attach an ad to movies in the same way that they currently attach the film classification.
Click here to view the submission to the NSW Government. 
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Become a Supporter
We want to demonstrate to the NSW Government that the damage caused by images of smoking in movies is of concern to the people of NSW and must come to an end. We are calling on community, health, youth and parent groups to join us in our call for an amendment to the NSW Public Health Act (1991), requiring an anti-smoking ad to be placed before all movies aimed at young people and containing attractive or high levels of smoking.
| Organisations can join us in convincing the NSW Government to make this change! |
Join other organisations and community groups that care about the wellbeing of young people in supporting our Screening Out Smoking campaign. In doing so you will help raise awareness of the damage caused to young people by images of smoking in movies and will assist The Cancer Council NSW in delivering this important message to the NSW Government.
All you need to do is fill out the Supporter Statement below and send it to us at :
Att: Screening Out Smoking
The Cancer Council NSW
PO Box 572,
Kings Cross NSW 2011
or fax to 02 9326 9408
Download Supporter Statement 115 KB
Click here for a list of organisations pledged their support.
| Individuals can join The Cancer Council NSW Tobacco Action Group (TAG) to support the campaign. |
Join TAG
| Young people (aged under 25) can join Smokescreening, The Cancer Council NSW' youth tobacco action group. |
Join Smokescreening
