REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

CDC buys a Calendar from 1984

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Sunday, August 22, 2010 12:01
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Friday, August 20, 2010 1:32 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:


Smoking in movies still a hazard, CDC says

Nearly half of the top-grossing films from 2009 contained depictions of tobacco use, following an unsteady decline from the early 1990s, according to a report Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figures come two years after the National Cancer Institute warned that kids greatly exposed to onscreen smoking are two to three times more likely to start smoking than youths with lighter exposure.

The study analyzed the number of incidents of tobacco use in the highest-grossing films from 1991 to 2009. During this period, the number of incidents peaked in 2005, but has since progressively declined. The trend may be linked with a significant decrease in high school students who had ever tried a cigarette. However, the decline is not enough given the “strong scientific base that smoking onscreen causes kids to smoke," said lead author of the study, Dr. Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco. Today tobacco use remains the cause of one out of five deaths in the U.S., and approximately 1,000 youths daily become cigarette smokers.

The recommendations of the CDC include assigning an R-rating to films that depict tobacco imagery, anti-tobacco adds preceding films that contain onscreen tobacco use, and prohibiting tobacco brand placements in films. In 2009, the mega-blockbuster film "Avatar" (whose leading actress Sigourney Weaver portrays a cigarette-smoking environmentalist) helped account for the more than 17 billion times a tobacco incident was viewed by a movie-audience member nationwide that year, according to the study. The banning of smoking in films rated PG-13 as urged by the CDC would create an economic disincentive for producers, Glatz says, and would help prevent the tobacco imagery of such films from reaching youths in theaters.

"That’s a very strong statement from a federal bureaucracy,” said Glantz in a phone call Thursday. “This is the first time that the CDC or any other government agency has said this is a problem that simply needs to be solved now.”

This study was funded in part by the American Legacy Foundation and the California Tobacco Control Program, although they played no role conducting the research or preparing the report, according to the CDC.

Post by: Trisha Pasricha - CNN Medical News Intern



Hello,

So, the CDC wants to start dictating movie ratings and implementing soft censorship. How thoughtful of them.

"We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

--Anthony

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Friday, August 20, 2010 2:15 PM

TRAVELER


So if you watch old films on TV or rent them they will have to have a warning if there is any smoking. "Casablanca" rated PG-13. What next? I know; eating bacon cheeseburgers.


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Friday, August 20, 2010 2:27 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

Well, Lord of the Rings could be reclassified 'Rated R' because several characters like to smoke. The Hobbit will have some hard choices to make. Should Gandalf abandon the pipe? What about Bilbo?

You jest about Casablanca, but I have already seen anime' from Japan, reworked for an American audience. The cigarettes are digitally removed from cigarette-smoking characters' hands. I wouldn't imagine that it'll take long for classic films to be similarly reworked to remove the offending tobacco use.

I don't smoke. I don't like cigarettes. I don't like the pervasive smell that insinuates itself on the clothing and property of cigarette smokers. I don't want my children to smoke.

However, I also don't want the work of an artist to be reclassified into obscurity or altered in order to remove cigarette smoking. If someone wants to include a Cigarette Smoking Man in their work of art, they should be able to do so without being bullied into changing it or sacrificing profitability. More than anything, I don't want the bloody CDC deciding how movies are classified.

--Anthony

P.S. Not widely known, but the villainous 'Cigarette Smoking Man' of X-Files fame actually smoked herbal cigarettes. Who knows if that's more or less healthy, though.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010 9:01 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:


"We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."



We also tell them where to worship, and which gods, and how. We're in their churches, too, it seems. Even in their community centers.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:44 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


I will be playing the part of Devil's Advocate today.

I believe the CDC was "recommending" not demanding.

The CDC is a pretty essential gov organization charged with the herculean task of making us safer and live longer. Their task is made even harder by the fact that we're free to ignore their overwhelming and incontrovertible scientific findings.

Some of the things the CDC works on:

Diseases & Conditions
ADHD, Birth Defects, Cancer, Diabetes, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Flu, Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, STDs

Emergency Preparedness & Response
Bioterrorism, Chemical & Radiation Emergencies, Severe Weather

Environmental Health
Air Pollution, Carbon Monoxide, Lead, Mold, Water Quality, Climate Change

Healthy Living
Food Safety, Bone Health, Physical Activity, Immunizations, Genetics, Smoking Prevention

Injury, Violence & Safety
Brain Injury, Child Abuse, Falls, Fires, Poisoning, Suicide, Youth Violence

Travelers' Health
Destinations, Outbreaks, Travel Vaccinations, Yellow Book

Workplace Safety & Health
Asbestos, Chemical Safety, Construction, Mining, Office Environments, Respirators

On smoking from their site:

"Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than 440,000 deaths each year. Although major strides have been made in reducing tobacco use among U.S.adults, rates of tobacco use among teens remain high:in 2001,28.5% of high school students used some form of tobacco. Tobacco use and addiction usually begin in adolescence.

>>>>> Among U.S. adults who ever smoked daily, 82% tried their first cigarette
and 53% became daily smokers before 18 years of age.

The costs associated with tobacco use total more than $150 billion a year—$75.5 billion per year in medical expenses and $81.9 billion in lost productivity."

Hard to have cheaper health care when you have such costs. Smokers aren't the only ones who pay for their habit.

I wonder if James Cameron would say his film would have been artistically altered or any different if S. Weaver's character was a compulsive gum chewer instead of smoker (or nothing)?

I think the CDC is just trying to do their job and inform artists, especially film makers who's work is so influential to how kids behave, that there are real consequences to their choices.

I think it's pure hyperbole to connect this report to "they want to dictate how we live!" "they will change the great art of our time!" "Mona Lisa behind a Berka!"

Would it really kill Casablanca if Bogart didn't smoke? Or just alter one's memory and that is the real issue? Isn't the story what's important?

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Saturday, August 21, 2010 11:38 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


It would certainly change Waterworld substantially...


Hmmmm... On second though, considering that fact, I like the way you're thinkin', Piz! :D

AURaptor's Greatest Hits:

Friday, May 28, 2010 - 20:32 To AnthonyT:
Go fuck yourself.
On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you.

Friday, May 28, 2010 - 18:26 To President Obama:
Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar.
Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.
... go fuck yourself, Mr. President.


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Saturday, August 21, 2010 12:13 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


"Would it really kill Casablanca if Bogart didn't smoke?"

Hello,

In the special features for Lord of the Rings, one can learn that they weren't sure whether there would be significant pushback against having Gandalf smoke a pipe.

As a consequence, the actor practiced a speaking affectation that assumed he was a candy addict, and would regularly be sloshing a dollop of candy in his mouth.

The story could have been told either way. However, only one of those ways would the story have been told according to the designs of its architect.

Maybe you don't remember the Comic Code Authority, a response to government pressures on creative works. I do remember it. There was never a law requiring comic books to become lame pieces of drivel, with code-era books derided to this day on issues of their ridiculousness. It was soft censorship with the force of government behind it. And it was awful.

Can you still tell a story? Of course you can. There's just a strong incentive not to tell it the way you wanted to.

I don't like government to meddle in art. Or to put it in other terms, I don't like them to meddle in free speech. Not even through strong suggestions.

--Anthony


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Sunday, August 22, 2010 3:47 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


First, the CDC is talking about depictions of smoking in film and tv, not rewriting intellectual content. That's a considerable leap.
Second, tv/film industries are so highly commercialized that I hesitate to call what they produce Art, at least not without accepting what that means for those mediums. As in, there are so many more restrictions placed on their "free speech" and greater influences on their creative output than whether a character smokes or not already in place.

- write to the commercial break
- acceptable violence
- acceptable language
- casting tendencies
- sponsor dictates

So, there are already social, commercial, gov restrictions and some restrictions are the discretion of the network and it's creatives based on market research. Whatever, the medium is well restricted.

I think the CDC is trying to educate mass market writers that there are greater consequences to this one particular choice.

Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:
However, only one of those ways would the story have been told according to the designs of its architect.



The use of the term "architect" reminded me of how many buildings had to be retrofit to be wheel chair accessible, obviously not part of the artists original design, and yet it was done and not with too much uproar. Some times there are greater considerations that supersede the sanctity of a single item in an artist's vision.

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Sunday, August 22, 2010 4:19 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quote:


"We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."



We also tell them where to worship, and which gods, and how. We're in their churches, too, it seems. Even in their community centers.




Yeah, you'd be perfectly ok with anyone who wants to dig up Arlington National Cemetery, and build a place of worship, if they said they wanted to " build bridges of understanding " or some such nonsense.




As one who has never smoked cigarettes, I have no problem with others doing it. I'll enjoy a fine cigar, from time to time, and will try to keep the smoke away from non smokers , as best I can.

But the anti-smoking NAZIs , despite having the best of intentions, are over stepping their bounds.




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Sunday, August 22, 2010 4:39 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quote:


"We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."



We also tell them where to worship, and which gods, and how. We're in their churches, too, it seems. Even in their community centers.




Yeah, you'd be perfectly ok with anyone who wants to dig up Arlington National Cemetery, and build a place of worship, if they said they wanted to " build bridges of understanding " or some such nonsense.




You're so full of shit your eyes are brown. Show me where I ever said that, or endorsed it. Was it in the same thread where you claimed that all blacks and Muslims should be hanged?

AURaptor's Greatest Hits:

Friday, May 28, 2010 - 20:32 To AnthonyT:
Go fuck yourself.
On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you.

Friday, May 28, 2010 - 18:26 To President Obama:
Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar.
Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.
... go fuck yourself, Mr. President.


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Sunday, August 22, 2010 6:18 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


"Whatever, the medium is well restricted."

Hello,

I am not unaware of present myriad interferences that exist which infringe upon the creative landscape of the artist. Nor am I unaware of the universe of sins which infringe upon the goodness of humanity. In neither case is the presence of such lamentable impediments a good argument for adding to the pile.

"I think the CDC is trying to educate mass market writers that there are greater consequences to this one particular choice."

I think the CDC, using a study funded by people with an agenda, is going to bring great weight to bear on this issue. This has happened before with other government institutions, as I have already mentioned. I think if this meets with success, we will see other agenda-driven studies and conclusions used to suggest restrictions to the art.


"The use of the term "architect" reminded me of how many buildings had to be retrofit to be wheel chair accessible, obviously not part of the artists original design, and yet it was done and not with too much uproar. Some times there are greater considerations that supersede the sanctity of a single item in an artist's vision."

I think you'll find that this particular issue has much more in common with Prohibition and Sunday Sinner laws than it does with access for the disabled.

You see, wheelchair ramps make something more accessible to the population. This proposal restricts access to the population.

--Anthony

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Sunday, August 22, 2010 7:54 AM

FREMDFIRMA



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Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:09 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:

I think the CDC, using a study funded by people with an agenda, is going to bring great weight to bear on this issue. This has happened before with other government institutions, as I have already mentioned. I think if this meets with success, we will see other agenda-driven studies and conclusions used to suggest restrictions to the art.



Agenda in this case being better health, longer life, and lower health care costs - outrageous! I bow to your diligence against these evils.

I do agree that if this succeeds we will surely see more studies - that's what humans do and we will never stop. What we should do when this happens imho is weigh each one as it comes along and not make blanket projections that they will all be negative or ruin artistic expression.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:37 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

I suppose my default position is to resist government intervention on the assumption that it will become a negative force until it's proved not to be.

You seem to take the assumption that it will be a positive force until it's proved not to be.

Your position is possibly more fair.

I guess I just feel no one's going to check government if we don't, and if we don't view their activities with suspicion, we'll be well raped by the time it proves to have been a bad idea.

--Anthony



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Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:00 AM

WISHIMAY


I had part of a Marlboro Mentol Light in 1999 and I swear to god I wanted one every fucking day for six months. Having managed to live through that I have never touched another.

I have recently found a substitute: Altoids creme de menthe witha dark chocolate coating, and bonus! they act as an aphrodisiac, too!

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Sunday, August 22, 2010 12:01 PM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


I try not to make assumptions about Gov action, but I am probably as skeptical as most people are. I do suggest we weigh them as they come along as individual actions. Of all the possible influences on artists/creatives this particular individual one seems one of the least insidious or to have any other hidden motives.

Now if you were railing against Tobacco and Hollywood I would be right there with you...there was a time when Hollywood & Big Tobacco worked together in what could only be described as the opposite direction from the CDC: trying to find ways to get kids to smoke.



This site may have an agenda, not sure, but having an agenda doesn't make one bad necessarily:

http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/problem/bigtobacco.html

"Superman II (1980, Warner Brothers) made good on a deal with Philip Morris to feature Marlboros. Read the deal. Note Clause 4, where the producers agree to edit the film to avoid any negative portrayal of Marlboros.
Explore tobacco in Hollywood's "Golden Age."
In the 1930s and 1940s, tobacco companies gave Hollywood studios national advertising - and got a brand boost when the studios' stars smoked on screen. Popular star Claudette Colbert was paid at least $150,000 (2008 dollars) to advertise Lucky Strike.

"Film is better than any commercial that has been run on television or in any magazine, because the audience is totally unaware of any sponsor involvement."
That's what Hollywood told Big Tobacco as far back as 1972. In a 1982 letter the public relations firm of Cunningham and Walsh outlined cigarette product placement opportunities to its client, Brown & Williamson:

"Recently there have been a number of high-visibility feature films in which one or more of the central characters smoke a particular brand of cigarettes. This has been happening because cigarette manufacturers have been paying for the exposure."
Not only did Philip Morris arrange for Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) to smoke Marlboros, but “Superman II also included a classic fight scene in which Superman and the bad guys throw a Marlboro truck back and forth across Lexington Avenue. This truck was produced solely for the movie and exists nowhere else."

In 1983, Hamish Maxwell, president of Phillip Morris International (and later chairman of Philip Morris Companies, now Altria), highlighted the importance of smoking in the movies in a speech to his marketeers:

"Smoking is being positioned as an unfashionable, as well as unhealthy, custom. We must use every creative means at our disposal to reverse this destructive trend. I do feel heartened at the increasing number of occasions when I go to a movie and see a pack of cigarettes in the hands of the leading lady. This is in sharp contrast to the state of affairs just a few years ago when cigarettes rarely showed up on camera. We must continue to exploit new opportunities to get cigarettes on screen and into the hands of smokers."

Corporations - them I don't ever trust.

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