185146 Screen Out!: A national campaign to get smoking out of youth-rated films

Wednesday, October 29, 2008: 1:42 PM

Melissa Walthers, MPH , American Medical Asssociation Alliance, Chicago, IL
     
Tobacco use in Hollywood films glamorizes smoking, posing great threats to the long-term health of American children. Each day a staggering 4,000 kids try their first cigarette, 1,000 of whom will become daily smokers. Research has recently accumulated regarding the negative effect that on-screen smoking imagery has on youth-smoking initiation rates in the United States and abroad. Through joint coalition efforts with national and international public health organizations, the use of on-screen tobacco imagery in youth-rated films has become a significant issue in the tobacco advocacy and policy community. The American Medical Association Alliance (AMA Alliance), the largest volunteer arm of the American Medical Association (AMA), is currently engaged in Screen Out!, a three-year campaign to organize 23,000 grassroots advocates actively seeking to rid smoking imagery from youth-rated films. Screen Out! utilizes letter-writing, petition-drives, endorsement campaigns and media outreach in 30 states across the United States in an effort to pressure the U.S. film industry to eliminate tobacco in youth-rated movies and require a mandatory “R” rating for movies with smoking. These efforts aim to diminish the glamorization of smoking and reduce childhood smoking rates.

Learning Objectives:
• Assess the evidence base and support for smoke free movie campaigns • Evaluate the policy options for addressing smoking imagery in youth-rated films • Discuss the successes and challenges of implementing a national grassroots campaign around the issue of smoking in movies

Keywords: Media Advocacy, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Melissa Walthers received her Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), School of Public Health. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Sociology from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Her work experience includes research, planning and grant development at the Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) as part of a Fellowship through the UIC School of Public Health. During this period, she also worked with a team to create assessment and evaluation strategies for statewide public health programs. During an internship with the Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion (CPHP), she developed evaluation assessment tools for curriculum and grass roots outreach activities in support of nutrition and health promotion. Prior to relocating to Chicago, Melissa worked with the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC on federal nutrition policy standards to prevent childhood obesity. Currently, Melissa is the Project Coordinator for the Screen Out! Campaign, a 3-year campaign which works to organize a parent-to-parent network of advocates who promote standards which would get smoking out of youth-rated-films. This project is run through the AMA Alliance, the largest volunteer arm of the American Medical Association and funded through the American Legacy Foundation. Melissa (Osborn) Walthers has had two articles published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine as a co-author. She was also a presenter at the American Public Health Association's 2007 annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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