The Hulk: Gratuitous smoking?
Posted on June 13th, 2008 – 8:15 AMBy Josephine Marcotty
The cigar-puffing General Thaddeus Ross is a bad guy, all right. So bad that leading medical organizations think that the Incredible Hulk should be rated “R.”
No, it’s not the violence and mayhem Gen. Ross inspires in his quest to capture Hulk that draws objections. It’s his cigar.
Movies are one of the last places in media where kids see people smoking, and thats a big reason why a lot of them start smoking, too, according to anti-tobacco groups and tobacco researchers. It may even be more influential that tobacco advertising, researchers have found. According to a 2005 study in the journal Pediatrics about a third of teens who smoke did so in part because of what they saw in the movies, and those with the highest exposure to tobacco in movies were three times more likely to start smoking as those with the least exposure. A study in the journal the Lancet found much the same thing, and kids whose parents were not smokers were particularly vulnerable.
Tobacco products or smoking occurs in three-fourths of youth rated movies, and 90 percent of “R” rate movies, according to a report by the Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco advocacy and research organization.
Legacy, the American Medical Association, and other groups have been pushing the movie industry and Congress to take gratuitous smoking out of films, or give them “R” ratings to reduce the number of kids who are exposed to it. They question whether General Ross’ ever present cigar is really necessary to the plot (such as it is) in The Incredible Hulk or the general’s character. Universal Studios and Marvel Comics “should be especially embarrassed for using comic book movies, which they market to children and know youth will want to see, to promote tobacco,” they said in a public statement.
Films like this that unnecessarily expose kids to tobacco are just as damaging as those that have gratuitous violence and sex, they argue, and should put in the same category.
Are they going over board? What would you think if you knew your kids picked up a cigarette or one of those new sweet little cigars because they saw it in a movie?
Should the movie industry even care about the impact of their products on teen agers?
And why is there so much smoking in movies anyway?
21 Responses to "The Hulk: Gratuitous smoking?"
When does it become our responsibility as parents to teach our children what’s right and wrong? Instead we blame these sorts of issues on everything going on outside the home and just sit back and hope our children make the correct decisions.
Take some responsibility for your children’s well being parents. A movie is a movie. If they don’t know the difference between that and the real world, the problem isn’t the movie, it’s your parenting.
I mean it’s like this, you blame McDonald’s for your child being fat, but yet your the one who takes them there for dinner every night. Get real already.
An ‘R’ rating for smoking? what an idiotic idea. Smoking is part of the real world and I talk to my 8-year old about it all of the time when a teachable moment comes up. It is up to us to guide our children. If a movie makes them do anything, we have not done our jobs well. That is not the fault of the movie industry.
I really have a distaste for the people who continually try to sensor the movies to ’shield the children’ — in reality you are just trying to change and censor the world to what you would prefer to see. We don’t always live in a ‘G’ rated world, open your eyes and deal with it. Quit blaming others.
He smokes get over it. So do some of the parents whose kids see this lets band them to.
I’m glad to see comments here advocating parental responsibility in all this. I had started to believe that everyone wanted the media and public schools to raise their children now.
I’m not sure what I think of the “R” rating idea, but we protect our kids from second hand smoke because we know and believe that it’s harmful. But so is exposing them to glamorous images of smoking — that’s what gets them to try it in the first place. So what’s the difference? JM
The star of this film, Edward Norton, is very anti-smoking, does not support or endorse gratuitous smoking in films and refuses to smoke in movies even if it’s called for with his character. It’s ironic that this angle is being presented for this film, given his stand.
I’m an ardent anti-smoker, but to try to blame everyone else for your own shortcomings as a parent is absolutely ludicrous. As far as this movie goes, the general was always a cigar-chomping fiend in the comics. That’s the kind of character he is. My bet is that the folks who question the cigar smoking here haven’t seen the movie and aren’t familiar with the character of General Ross - most parents wouldn’t want their kids to turn out like him, anyway.
They are worried about the cigar…not the violence?
If the kids that they are so worried about are fans of or have read the Hulk comics than they already know that General Ross is a smoker.
Get a life, people.
Have we as a society become so lilly-livered that “video, or images” of smoking is worthy of a “R”estricted rating??? Next thing you know, they’ll ban smoking in public… Oh wait…
It comes down to parental responsibility, and in the end, the sole choice of an individual, young teen or whatnot to know about the junk associated with smoking…
I’m a former smoker myself, and when my child is old enough to comprehend what smoking is, I will tell her MY thoughts on it…
I did it, I was stupid, it costs too much, and there are too many negatives associated with smoking (breath, stinky clothes, etc.)
BUT, if after all I just mentioned still doesn’t sway you, then that is your choice… I was given the same choice as a young teen and it took me 12 years to wisen up…
Are you f*ing kidding me?!?! Next they’ll be blaming the movie industry for exposing kids to fat people in movies, which in turn encourages obesity. I am SO sick of this “blame everyone but yourself” society. If you want to “protect” the children, bar your doors, don’t send your kids to school, DON’T go see movies like this one, tape your own mouths shut, and lock them in a closet. Some people are just plain idiots. Period.
Are you serious? Really? THAT’S what they’re worried aobut?
Exposing children to images of smoking doesn’t get them to try it. That’s ridiculous, Josephine. By your flawed logic it sounds to me like you’re also saying children will also start experimenting with gamma ray devices.
When I was a kid, I couldve cared less if Joe Camel himself knocked on my door and offered me a Turkish Gold. Its crazy, does no one remember what it was like to be a teen any more? Have we really forgotten ourselves that much? Im a non smoker, but when I was a kid I tried it, more than once. If I was out with the fellas and someone lit a square, there was a chance I might ask if I could bum one (yeah, I was that guy. Im sure all the smokers know what I mean, haha) But my point being…the LAST thing to have EVER made me want to smoke was a movie/tv show/video game/comic, etc.
Educate them, bc thats all you can do. At a certain point, they’ll be on their own. Give your kids more credit than that, unless you really belive otherwise about your child, but I’m sure that most parents like to think that they’re raising smart children, with the ability to think for themselves…thats the ultimate goal, right?
Im glad to see so many posts here are able to see through the BS…props to you people.
I believe in parental responsibility. I take responsibility for my son’s actions (he’s under 5). I also work hard to instill my values in him. I don’t blame the rest of society for my all-too-human parenting. However, even good parents aren’t the only influence in their children’s lives. School, the media, other kids, all have an impact as well. To ignore their impact is ridiculous. If we are marketing something to children, we should make sure it is appropriate for children.
I think the study that Josephine cites about the impact of movies on children’s behavior is interesting and telling.
I am also more interested in the question of why there’s so much smoking in movies. I think its because it is an easy way of conveying something about a character, something about their personality. I wonder how often characters who smoke are portrayed positively or negatively?
I find those questions much more interesting and informative than just accusations about how parents (or schools, or movies) are simply failing all children.
What a joke. This lady needs to get over it and find something useful to write about. Movies aren’t the problem, it’s the parents who don’t take responsibility to educate their children.
Jen has a great point. Yeah, there’s all the parental responsibility blah, blah, blah. Of course, parents who are doing their jobs will talk with their kids about smoking, BUT the fact remains that in a study printed in a respectable health journal found that one-third of the teens in the study were influenced to smoke by the media.
So… why is there smoking in movies? Does it *have* to be there? Can anyone say “product placement”? Marlboro had a special Marlboro truck made for Superman II that Superman tosses around.
I think the responsible parents out there are the ones who are asking these questions.
Don’t just take my word. Read for yourself: http://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/problem/bigtobacco.html
Dan from Uptown, smoking in movies is no different than smoking in advertisements. Advertising works. It gets people to try things. Like smoking. The tobacco industry — and the car industry and pharmaceutical industry and the cereal industry — have been using it for decades. Effectively. Companies also pay to have their products used in movies. The only reason why the tobacco industry doesn’t use product placement in movies now is because they agreed to stop as part of the 1998 tobacco settlement. JM
You think second hand smoke is bad, check out this website for an even bigger heath risk:
ed norton always makes a point to say something bad about smoking, or say that he doesn’t smoke in his movies. i think he might of had something to do with this warning.
Josephine says “we protect our kids from second hand smoke because we know and believe that it’s harmful. But so is exposing them to glamorous images of smoking”. Exposing anyone to actual secondhand smoke is harmful. Esposing someone to an image of smoke is not. Their choice to smoke is harmful. When you police all forms of media to eradicate even the thought of someone picking up a cigarette will you then move to ban images of consuming alcohol? Obesity? Anger? Suicide? Anything our children may get an idea from.
Parent your children and stop looking for society to childproof the world for you.
And since when is a bad guy chomping a cigar glamourous?
Frankly I am much, much less concerned about images of smoking (no matter how “glamorous”) than I am about dangerous stunts and gratuitous violence.
The ugliness and consequences of smoking are easy to grasp (my kids think it smoking is gross and have seen enough evidence of its harm to be convinced.) Even when I was a little girl - 30 years ago - I never related to the sexy women wielding Virginia Slims, etc. I mean we’ve known for two generations, at least, that smoking kills people!
What’s really glamorous to a couple of school-aged boys is light saber battles, people diving off cliffs, being underwater for great lengths of time, surviving being hit by a truck, getting whacked on the head with a bat (and emerging unscathed)… I could go on. I’d be interested in whether those very unwise actions that are so often portrayed on the silver screen and television are ever implicated in the injury or death of youth.
