Hollywood set to filter on-screen smoking

HOLLYWOOD SET TO FILTER ON-SCREEN SMOKING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
Under a policy announced Thursday, the Motion Picture Assn. of America said its movie raters would take into account "depictions that glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking outside of a historic or other mitigating context." That makes smoking a major factor to be considered alongside violence, profanity, nudity and drug use by the MPAA's rating board, the Classification and Rating Administration, when deciding the warning parents will get. For filmmakers and studios, the new policy complicates the creative process because a stricter rating can hurt ticket sales. The change in policy is a partial victory for anti-smoking advocates and researchers, who have pressured the MPAA for years to take a tougher stance on the issue. The trade group, however, resisted calls for an even more radical proposal to give films with smoking a mandatory R rating, meaning children under 17 would not be allowed to see them without a parent or guardian.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-moviesmoking11may11...
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* Hollywood Ads Adult Smoking To Ratings System
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6441178.html

* Put It Out, Shweetheart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR200705...
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