According to the Smoke Free Movies website, between May 2002 and April 2003, 82% of top grossing PG-13 films featured smoking scenes and half of all the smoking shots were in movies rated for kids. This is up substantially from 1999–2000, when only 21% of the tobacco shots were in movies rated G, PG, and PG13. People tend to be shocked and horrified at such data, but there’s really nothing new here. Hollywood has always been a key channel for the promotion of the smoking message, going back to the days of Dietrich, Bogart and Spencer Tracy.
