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April 29, 2003
HONOLULU - O‘ahu teenagers will be presenting "Thumbs Up!
Thumbs Down!" at the Fifth Annual "Hackademy Awards," an event
featuring Hollywood portrayals of smoking in top movies. The event will
be held Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ward
Entertainment Complex.
Throughout the past year, students participated in the "Thumbs Up!
Thumbs Down!" project by viewing the movies nominated for academy
awards or movies popular with teens. "Thumbs Down!" was given to movies
that included and glamorized smoking, while "Thumbs Up!" was given to
movies that contained no smoking, or anti-smoking messages. Student
shared the information they gathered in their classes and wrote
articles in school newspapers.
Students critiqued Oscar nominated films as well as popular teen
movies. Criteria is as follows: extent and type of tobacco use, who
used tobacco, specific brands shown, perceived messages of tobacco use,
special situations of tobacco use, and anti-tobacco messages
displayed.
The entertainment industry plays a significant role in influencing
young people in terms of tobacco use, both positively and negatively.
Actors or actresses on screen send a message to millions of young
people in theatres across the nation and around the world.
Researchers studied smoking in movies and found that in a recent
study of 250 of the top U.S. feature films—85 percent had tobacco
use and (38 percent had cigars). Nine out of 10 Hollywood films in the
1990’s included smoking and studies showed that in 2001 most
smoking occurred in films rated G, PG, or PG 13, the films children are
most likely to see. Tobacco was used once every three to five minutes
in movies from the 1990’s an increase from once every 10 to 15
minutes in movies from the 1970’s and 1980’s. The smoking
rate for major movie characters is 300 percent higher than reality as
characters in films tend to light up three times more frequently than
do people in America.
The "Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!" Project is a collaboration between the
Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Education Program,
Consolidated Theatres, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawai‘i,
and the Department of Education. The schools that participated were
Campbell High School, Castle High School, Iolani School, Roosevelt High
School, and Waipahu High School. The purpose of the project aims to
increase awareness about the impact on young people of tobacco use in
movies, videos, and TV.
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For more information, contact:
Kathleen Koga
Tobacco Prevention and Education Program
Phone: (808) 586-1430
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