"A lot of kids are going to start smoking because of this movie," said Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California-San Francisco. Youths who frequently see smoking onscreen are two to three times more likely to begin smoking than peers who rarely see it depicted, he said.
By what methodology did they arrive at these statistics? Are there many smoking youths who have meticulously kept track of how often they've seen someone smoking onscreen? When kids see Cruella DeVil puffing away, won't that make them less likely to want to smoke? Or kidnap dogs?
Don't let's be silly now, anti-smokers.
UPDATE:
Whoops, looks like I spoke too soon. Maybe the kids are being led down the tobacco garden path by ciggy-sporting cartoon animals....
That photo is priceless! I remember as a child often playing at driving the car and smoking, but it certainly didn't encourage me to smoke as an adult. I also watched the Roadrunner blow Wylie Coyote to smithereens, but I hardly ever blow the heads off of people I encounter on the road when I'm driving through the desert.
ReplyDeleteYeah, cartoons didn't induce me to smoke, either. Dropping anvils on people, though - well, nobody's perfect.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind the smoking so much as a kid (especially menthol - it's like breathing cool mountain air) is was the drinking that did me in. Of course the effects were harder on some of us then others. Weren't they Goofus?
ReplyDeleteThe one in drag obviously came to no good in the end. BTW, love the holy water font on the wall. Catholics DO have a sense of humour! (and proportion)
ReplyDeleteBut back to the original article and accompanying hysteria: Rango is going to make kids start smoking???? Did the Bugs Bunny "Punkinhead Martin" hillbilly episode start blood feuds? I think not. Must file in "beyond satire".
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