Keep Cigarettes Off Screen Says Tobacco Firm

One of Hollywood's leading lights has declared that it wants no further part in the murky business and is refusing to come out of its trailer. But this is not a celebrity throwing a tantrum. This is Philip Morris, maker of leading cigarette brands such as Marlboro and Benson & Hedges.

In a series of advertisements to run in the film industry magazines Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, Philip Morris will ask the film industry to refrain from showing its brands in any future films. "Movies have the power to amuse, delight, teach and inspire. However, some studies suggest they may also influence a child's decision to smoke," said Jennifer Hunter of the company's "youth smoking prevention and cessation support" department.

The company says that as long ago as 1990 it initiated a policy of declining requests to use its products in films and television shows aimed at a general audience. But that policy hasn't stopped film-makers simply showing the products without permission.

Now Philip Morris, which is owned by the Altria Group and holds 50.5% of US tobacco market, is asking studios to desist. But it is not threatening any sanction for breach of copyright.

Instead, Stanton Glantz of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research in San Francisco told the Associated Press, the company is saying: "Aw, shucks, we wish you wouldn't show our products on screen."

The depiction of smoking in films and television programmes aimed at children is a particularly contentious area. Several studies show that children are influenced in their decision to start smoking by depictions in the media. A plethora of pressure groups has emerged around the issue. Accordingly, some argue that the tobacco companies are happy to see their products in films as a way of boosting sales. However, those appearances can sometimes have an adverse effect.

Thank You For Not Smoking, released last year, prominently featured Marlboros and included a scene where the protagonist visits an ailing "Marlboro Man". Two models who played the Marlboro Man in advertisements died of lung cancer.