In conjunction with the annual Academy Awards, The SmokeScreeners have issued their annual “Phlegmmy Awards”, the list of the ten films with most tobacco use as rated by students, parents, and educators.  Avatar, tops this year’s list as the Worst Movie of 2009.

“Avatar, a PG-13 rated blockbuster, included scenes of Sigourney Weaver smoking cigarettes on four separate occasions,” said Dr. Barry Hummel, a Pediatrician and youth tobacco prevention advocate.  “In fact, her very first line of dialogue is to ask her colleagues for a cigarette.  This is especially silly given that she is an environmental scientist on an alien planet 200 years in the future.  In this context the use of tobacco is completely unnecessary.” 

Dr. Hummel also pointed out the importance of such tobacco use in movies.  “Avatar has sold over $700 million in tickets in the United States Alone.  If we assume the average ticket price is $10.00, then 70 million people have seen the movie.  Also, these four smoking scenes in Avatar have provided 280 million tobacco impressions… not bad marketing for an industry that has few remaining advertising options.  The use of tobacco by actors continues to glamorize and normalize tobacco use, especially among our youth.”

The SmokeScreeners program was developed by Dr. Hummel as a way of highlighting the problem of tobacco use in films marketed to children and teenagers.  “Even if you exclude product placement, smoking by actors in movies is a form of subliminal advertising for the tobacco industry,” says Dr. Hummel.  “The sad reality is that over half of all teenagers who smoke say that they lit their first cigarettes because it looked cool in a  movie.”  The SmokeScreeners program teaches children and teenagers to be more aware of the issue of onscreen smoking, and provides families with information on the smoking content of films marketed to their children.

The entire Top Ten Phlegmmy Awards for 2008 include:

1. Avatar  (PG-13)
2. The Blind Side (PG-13)
3. Sherlock Holmes (PG-13)
4. Disney’s A Christmas Carol (PG)
5. Julie & Julia (PG-13)
6. Madea Goes to Jail  (PG-13)
7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PG-13)
8. Fast & Furious (PG-13)
9. Angels & Demons (PG-13)
10. I Can Do Bad All By Myself  (PG-13) 

The films are rated using a standardized score sheet which takes into account the importance of the cast members seen smoking, the amount of smoking, the location of the smoking, and the perceived message of the smoking scenes.  The worst ten films are then selected using a formula that takes into account the film’s smoking score, the MPAA rating, and film’s ticket sales.