Cigars Stink Up The Silver Screen.

Just when it appeared that cigar use in movies was riding off into the sunset, it shot up again in 1999-2000, according to a study released by the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails.

“Our review of the top 50 movies for 1999-2000 found cigars made up 34 percent of the total tobacco use,” Project Director Kori Titus reported, noting that in the previous year’s movies, that figure was just 14 percent. “Of the nine years of movies we have reviewed from 1991-2000, only 1994-95 was higher at 41 percent of the total use.”

Of particular concern was cigar use by African American actors. Titus noted that 30 percent of the actors who smoked cigars in the 1999-2000 movies were African American.

“Use by prominent role models may be a factor in cigar use by young African Americans,” she said. The 1999 National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that black middle-school students were significantly more likely to smoke cigars than were white students, 8.8 percent as compared with 4.9 percent.

The figures on cigars were part of the 2001 Annual Report Card of Tobacco Use in the Movies, which showed that total glamorous portrayals of tobacco were up substantially. Pro-tobacco scenes were present in nearly half — 48 percent — of the 50 top-grossing movies from May 1999 to April 2000. In 1998-’99, only 37 percent of the movies reviewed contained pro-tobacco messages.

The Annual Report Card grades Hollywood in four areas considered critical in the fight against teenage tobacco use. All in all, the movies received a below-average grade in the 2001 Report Card. Here are the results:

— Perceived Messages on Tobacco Use: a grade of D for having more pro-tobacco messages and fewer anti-tobacco ones in the 1999-2000 movies. “Depicting tobacco use as being fun, sexy, cool, edgy or related to wealth, power, rebellion and
celebration … encourages young people to use tobacco.”

— Who Uses Tobacco: a grade of C for having the first-billed actors lighting up in 60 percent of the movies. When stars or featured actors light up in a movie it sends a powerful message to young people that tobacco use is an acceptable, even desirable, activity.

— The Extent and Type of Tobacco Used: a grade of B, because, while cigar use was up, cigarette use was down and the average number of tobacco incidents per movie was the third lowest of the nine years recorded.

— Where Tobacco is Used: a grade of D, because 77 percent of the scenes with tobacco use was in enclosed areas — such as homes, the workplace, restaurants and vehicles — even though studies have proven that second-hand smoke is dangerous to nonsmokers.

“We call for Hollywood to take a serious look at this Report Card and study ways that they can use other props to portray the glamorous images for which cigarettes and cigars are currently used,” Titus said. “We would love to see Hollywood receive straight A’s or even B plusses.”

The “Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!” study is performed by Sacramento-area teenagers, who review the top 50 movies for tobacco content. Complete details on review results and other information on “Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!” may be found on the Lung Association’s website, www.saclung.org.

“Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!” is a program of the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails with support from the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. The project is made possible by funds received from the Tobacco Tax Health Protection Act of 1988 — Proposition 99, under Grant Number 00-90377 with the California Department of Public Health Services, Tobacco Control Section. Further information about the program and a detailed report on findings can be obtained through contacting the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, 909 12th St., Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-444-5864; or on the Web at www.saclung.org.