Smoking in Movies Research The health community, the media and the public have recognized smoking in the movies to be more powerful than traditional tobacco advertising. A new study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine is the first independent evaluation of media's effect on young adult smoking. Up until now, the majority of research looking at smoking in movies effect over the years has shown that it is linked with youth smoking. Conducted by Stanton Glantz, PhD, of the University of California San Francisco and the director of the national Smoke Free Movies Project, the study, Smoking in Movies and Increased Smoking Among Young Adults, shows that the more 18-25 year olds are exposed to smoking in movies, the more likely they will become life-long smokers. This mirrors similar findings on the effect of movie smoking on young adolescents (aged 10-14 years) from Dartmouth Medical School in August. According to researchers studying the effect of tobacco marketing in media, the portrayal of tobacco use on film may be more psychologically engaging than a cigarette ad. In addition, it is not hard to find these types of images on TV and on film. American Legacy Foundation®'s studies have shown that tobacco is still depicted in more than half of youth-rated (G, PG and PG-13) movies and 90 percent of R-rated movies. The study's results are a reminder that smoking images in media continue to affect the health of young people in a negative way and more needs to be done to prevent this from happening. This research will offer support in Legacy's campaign to the movie industry to use stricter guidelines when rating films by using smoking as an influence.