WASHINGTON – Movies and cigarettes have long gone together like Bogey and Bacall, but after years of pressure from advocacy groups, films may now get tougher ratings if their characters light up.
The Motion Picture Association of America announced Thursday that smoking will be considered when rating movies and “depictions that glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking outside of an historic or other mitigating context may receive a higher rating.”
Smoking will become a factor in decisions by the Classification and Rating Administration, along with violence, language, nudity, drug abuse and other elements.
“There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine’s highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit,” MPAA Chief Executive Dan Glickman said. “The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue.”
But the MPAA resisted calls by some anti-smoking advocacy groups to give any film with smoking a mandatory “R” rating, meaning children younger than 17 would not be allowed to see it without a parent or guardian. Glickman said such a move is unnecessary.
According to a review by the ratings board, the percentage of movies with “even a fleeting glimpse of smoking” dropped from 60 percent in July 2004 to 52 percent in July 2006, he said. Of the movies with smoking, three-quarters received an R rating anyway for other adult themes.
Films whose ratings are affected by smoking will include explanations, such as “glamorized smoking” or “pervasive smoking.”
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