twasblog

Smoking in Movies - Academy Awards 2013

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:39:00 +0100

Key points:

• 61% of all nominated movies featured smoking this year.

• Smoking was heavy (50+ incidents) in nearly half of these films (47%, 8/17), including pipe-smoking in The Hobbit (PG-13)

• Half a dozen biographically-based films were nominated for 2012 — all with smoking. But only 25% of youth-rated movies with smoking (2/8) were biographically-based.

• PG-13 nominees delivering the most tobacco impressions (prelim.) in theaters include

• The Hobbit (Time Warner, 4.1 billion)
• Lincoln (Disney, 1.9 billion)
• Skyfall (Sony, 1 billion)

• R-rated nominees include:

• Argo (Time Warner, 2.2 billion)
• Django Unchained (Sony, 2.2 billion)
• Flight (Viacom, 1.6 billion)

Of the 20 nominated actresses and actors, four (20%) smoked on screen.

Among actors smoking in this year's films were
Leo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, R)
Ian McKellen and Michael Freeman (The Hobbit, PG-13)
David Strathairn and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Lincoln, PG-13)
Berenice Marlohe (Skyfall, PG-13)
Denzel Washington* (Flight, R)
Ben Affleck and John Goodman (Argo, R)
Joaquin Phoenix* and Philip Seymour Hoffman* (The Master, R)
Jessica Chastain* (Zero Dark Thirty, R)
Bruce WIllis, Edward Norton and Francis McDormand (Moonrise Kingdom, PG-13).

* Nominated for Best or Supporting Actor or Actress

Oscars are awarded Sunday, Feb. 24.

_____________________________________

Tobacco content data: Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!, a project of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails. Analysis and impressions: Smokefree Movies, UCSF.

Note: Because the sample of Oscar-nominated films is so small, we do not look for trends year to year. The results for all top-grossing films should be available soon.

It's Official Santa Arrived Smoke-Free

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:03:30 +0100

Santa Quits Smoking 2012 It's Official

Santa Claus makes it official that he quit smoking in time for his deliveries on Christmas Day 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ChristmasEve_bookcover_1_25inches_tall

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec. 25, 2012 - © Grafton and Scratch Publishers 2012

HOW SANTA QUIT SMOKING 2012

Since the release of the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (1823), popularized as Twas The Night Before Christmas, it has become well known that Santa smokes a pipe. 2012 I have gone smoke free, gone is the pipe. Now I want to set things right.

Why I choose to quit smoking in 2012?

Over the summer I was catching up on my reading and notice news stories that shook me right down to the ends of my red striped socks.

In November 2011 The UK Dept. of Health reported that children had told researchers that their number one Christmas wish was for their parents to stop smoking, they would give up Christmas presents if it helped to get their parents to butt out. This was the first time that I had heard that they were willing to forgo presents if it would make a difference. No presents equates to no need for Santa. My quitting was put on red alert.

I read the USA Surgeon General`s 2012 Report that showed smoking rates were no longer in decline and pipe smoking has gone up by a staggering 573% from 2008 - Center for Disease Control Statistic

Furthermore the elves heard parents say that they were skipping over lines of the Twas poem to prevent kids being upset or influenced by the depiction of Santa puffing away.

I asked the elves to search for the best tricks to quitting. To my dismay they came back with the fact that over 90% of people succeed in quitting by going cold turkey. I had tried cold turkey and failed. I had tried other methods and also failed miserably. Harvard studies released in 2012 announced once again the disappointing results of Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

``If the success rate for cold turkey is 3.4%, how did over 90% of quitters achieve success? “The elves giggled as they love trick questions. ``It took on average 5.6 attempts, Santa you need to try cold turkey again.” That is how I quit smoking.

My Christmas wish to you is to give it another go and get this done once and for all.

References:

www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourn...

http://mediacentre.dh.gov.uk/2011/11/01/all-children-want-christmas-parents-quit-smoking/

https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/health/2011/11/quit-smoking-tv-ad/

whyquit.com/nrt/wsj_helliker_nicotine_fix_020807.html

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2011-releases/nicotine-replacement-therapies.html

Media Release from Prof. John Banzhaf III

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 18:42:50 +0100

Santa Claus Quits Smoking, Asks Patents to Quit to Save Kids’ Lives

Santa Claus will deliver toys this year without his pipe because of growing concerns about his health, the health of Mrs. Claus, and the growing number of court orders and even laws prohibiting smoking in homes with children.

- Dec. 21, 2012 - WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 21, 2012): Santa Claus will deliver toys this year without his pipe – and its smoke encircling his head like a wreath – because of growing concerns about his health, the health of Mrs. Claus, and the growing number of court orders and even laws prohibiting smoking in homes with children.

This way, he said in an email, he will not be endangering the health of billions of children, many of whom have medical conditions which make them especially sensitive to secondhand tobacco smoke.
Reacting to the growing evidence that even small amounts of secondhand tobacco smoke pose very serious health risks to young children, and especially to the tens of millions who already have asthma, hay fever, sinusitis, or other respiratory problems and sensitivities, Santa said that he has given up smoking, and urged parents of young children to do the same as a Christmas gift to their offspring.

He noted that the New York Times had reported, "At least 6,200 children die each year in the United States because of their parents' smoking, killed by such things as lung infections and burns . . More young children are killed by parental smoking than by all unintentional injuries combined."

Santa also noted that in thousands of homes, both here and abroad, all smoking is banned by court order or, in the case of homes where foster children live, by legislation or agency regulations.
In addition, since smoking has been banned in so many public places in order to protect adults, Santa believed that it was time to extend the same protection to young children. He urged parents to follow his example, or at least not to smoke within a home where there are children.

Santa's decision was announced by public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who had written a letter to old Saint Nick. Instead of asking for presents, Banzhaf asked Santa to note that times have changed, and that what was once seen as a harmless habit is now a deadly danger to children. Santa agreed.

Prior letters by Banzhaf led to antismoking messages on radio and television, a ban on cigarette commercials, bans on smoking in many public places, judges banning smoking in custody cases and, more recently, bans on smoking in the homes of foster children.

“Christmas is about children, and it is wonderful that Santa Claus is setting such a great example in protecting them from tobacco smoke pollution. The most important and lasting gift any smoker can give a child is to give up smoking, or at least to stop smoking around his or her children," said Banzhaf.

Santa also decided to follow the example of the World Health Organization and many other businesses, and require that all of his elves become nonsmokers by next Christmas. He was moved be estimates that each and every smoking worker can cost his employer more than $12,000 a year in added and totally unnecessary costs, something Santa can ill afford.

"A smokefree work force, like a drug free work force, ensures that the health costs of such practices do not have to be borne by the organization and by the other workers. Employing someone who smokes dramatically inflates health care and other costs," said Banzhaf, noting that the costs usually must be passed along to other employees who have adopted healthier life styles.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/ @profbanzhaf

December 25th. Seth Godin

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 17:32:22 +0100

In our best possible future together, I hope we'll do a better job of learning to see one another.

Some people see a struggling person and turn away. Others see a human being and work to open a door or lend a hand. There are possiblities all around us. Not just the clicks of recycling a tired cliche, but the opportunity to be brave. If we only had the guts.

http://www.101influential.com/

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 05:13:05 +0100

Guess who makes the #4 spot - most influential character of all time. Fun list.

Reader response in The Guardian

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 03:36:15 +0100

Robstacle

24 October 2012 2:45 PMLink to this comment

Anyone who feels compelled to fight for freedom of speech could probably find a better target than a publisher of children's books.

The facts are:
(1) The story of Santa doesn't require him to smoke, and those two lines of poetry are not especially important to the piece - removing them doesn't change its tone or appeal. It isn't like hacking back Titus Andronicus to remove the violence, rape and cannibalism: it's changing a Santa who smokes into a Santa who doesn't.
(2) Removing the lines doesn't obliterate them from history - if you want to find the original work, you can. The only people who are going to care about the original work are parents who grew up with it and scholars. These people can buy original editions if they want. They can even choose to read those original editions to their kids, if they want. No one is stopping them.
(3) There is no agenda behind removing the lines other than to avoid exposing kids to the idea of a smoking Santa - it isn't as though the publisher is pushing any other ideas on kids, or censoring any other message. If lines about Santa's political opinions (whatever they might be) were removed, then we could probably call this censorship. But they're not, so we can't.
(4) Despite what the ACA say, children are incapable of critical thought - we know from research that exposing them to images of smoking makes them more likely to smoke - so why expose them?
(5) Removing a couple of lines from one poem isn't going to do a massive amount of good, but that isn't an argument for not doing it. If you argue along those lines, you're arguing that the votes of individuals have no effect in an election. Patently ridiculous. If you're against the change for another reason, argue away, but the argument that the effect is tiny is a weak one. The idea is obviously that we generally lessen children's exposure to smoking in multiple different areas, over time.

Scotland on Sunday Lachlann MacColla

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:42:29 +0100

2:27 PM on 23/12/2012

If Santa was snorting cocaine or shooting smack; it's safe to say that folk
would be up in arms. Yet, these same people have no problem with Santa
consuming an equally addictive and damaging drug. Where's the consistency?

Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse, that is if he gets his puddings made in time

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:53:33 +0100

Check out As You Sow for action to bring about new policies to better protect kids from the ...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:26:16 +0100

http://www.asyousow.org/health_safety/smoking.shtml

Check out this great organization for a thorough reporting on this issue of smoking in movies.

Children ask Santa to make their wishes come true - 54% of 7-11 with parents that smoke #1 wish ...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 02:18:23 +0100

This edit was done for the children who have been told that the use of tobacco products is dangerous and they worry about their parents or grandparents who are still smoking. They write letters to Santa asking for his help and the last thing they need to see is Santa puffing away. To these the youngest of readers Santa is very real and their hero.