Screen Out

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Screen Out!
A project of the Smokefree Movies Action Network

• A guide to smoking, movies childrens health

THIS PROJECT ENDORSED BY
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Whats it all about?
Whats it really all about?

• 87 of R-rated movies show tobacco
• 75 of PG-13 movies
• 40 of G and PG movies
• Most movies your kids see, especially your older
  kids
• Over and over again

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Whats wrong with smoking?
What is the impact of smoking in America?

• Still the 1 killer and 1 cause of preventable
  death.
• Tobacco kills 438,000 Americans a year
• Linked to Heart disease, lung disease, cancer
• 80-90 of smokers start in their teens

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Youth numbers
How many kids smoke?

• 3,900 kids tried their first cigarette today
• 2,000 others became addicted today
• Girls 12-17 are likelier to smoke than boys.
• One in 8 middle school students and more than 1
  in 4 high school kids use tobacco
• Average age at first cigarette 15

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Starting years
When do smokers start?
GRADE 12
GRADE 6
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19
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Smoking shift (R-rated)
Smoking in movies is shifting
45
55
G / PG / PG-13
R-rated
Smoking exposure in 1999
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Smoking shift (Youth-rated)
from R-rated to kid-rated.
45
55
R-rated
G / PG / PG-13
Smoking exposure in 2004
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Research design
What is the impact of smoking in movies?

• Children with the highest exposure to smoking in
  movies are nearly 3 times more likely to start
  smoking than those with the least exposure
• Children and adolescents report high levels of
  awareness of smoking on-screen

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Policy results
Simple solutions, big results

• Experts estimate that movies influence 390,000
  teens to start smoking each year
• Resulting in a projected 120,000 deaths.
• When R-rating clears smoking out of
  youth-rated movies, it should significantly
  reduce kids harmful exposure AND smoking
  initiation
• Saving more than one third of these lives each
  year.

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Key results
What Screen Out! is setting out to do

• Rate New Movies with Smoking R
• Certify No Pay-Offs
• Require Strong Anti-Smoking Ads
• Stop Identifying Tobacco Brands in Movies

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Endorsed by
R-rating smoking in future films is
endorsed by

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Medical Association
• World Health Organization
• AMA Alliance
• American Heart Association
• American Lung Association
• L.A. County Dept. of Health Services
• Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kidsand more

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Parent results
How can an R rating can limit your childrens
viewing of tobacco?
Getting tobacco out of kid-rated movies will stop
55 of their exposure.
Limiting your kids viewing of R-rated films
will stop 45 of their exposure.
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About the R
Is the R-rating censorship?

• Movie industry runs the rating system.
• Studios routinely shoot for certain ratings.
• Filmmakers tune sex, violence, language.
• Simply adds smoking to the ratings.

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Four principles
What can we do to make the 4 solutions a reality?

• Letter Writing Campaigns
• Petitions
• Endorsements
• Media Outlets

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Studio parents
Who do we target?

• Through Letter writing we need to target the
  companies who produce smoking in films
• To change the rating to R we must copy all of
  those letters to the Motion Picture Association
  of America (MPAA).

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Three Execs
These three companies can help save 60,000 lives
a year by pressuring the MPAA
MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (MPAA)
PARENT COMPANIES
RATING SYSTEM
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MPAA
Copy your letter to the head of the
MPAA, too
MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (MPAA)
RATING SYSTEM
Dan Glickman, President
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Theater Action
Working as a group? Add a Theater
Action!
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATRE OWNERS (NATO)
LOCAL THEATER
THEATER CHAIN
WRITE ONE LETTER TO A A LOCAL THEATER, THEN COPY
IT TO THE CHAIN HQ AND THE THEATERS
TRADE ASSOCIATION NATO.
FOUR POLICY GOALS
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Endorsed by
Become a part of the campaign!

• Screen Out! is a national campaign to get
  smoking out of youth rated films.
• To Join the effort
• Officially endorse the campaign
• Write letters and petitions
• Contact the AMA Alliance national office for
  events in your area.

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All about
Show your parent power!
The big secret in life is that there is no big
secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if
you're willing to work. Oprah Winfrey
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Screen Out!
Thank You!

• Project

THIS PROJECT ENDORSED BY