By Amanda Gillies
Health campaigners in Britain are calling for films that show actors smoking to be censored like those that show violence, and restricted to viewers over 18.
The campaigners point to a new study as proof that Hollywood glamourises cigarettes and encourages young people to smoke.
The UK Centre for Tobacco Control says smoking in films encourages young people to take it up, and wants smoking in a film to automatically earn it an 18 certificate.
Anti-smoking group ASH agrees, saying tobacco advertising was banned as showing images of people smoking encourages others to take up the habit.
Dr Jude McCool of Auckland University specialises in the role of tobacco in the media, and says a rating would be ineffective.
“I think we want to see young people not take up smoking and my thoughts are there are more cost effective ways to do that,” she says.
Almost all new smokers in New Zealand are under 18 – often starting at 14, and with a quarter of them as young as ten.
Filmmakers argue it's all about freedom of expression, and films should reflect real life.
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