Smoking scenes in youth-rated movies doubled in number between 2010 and 2012, and have returned to the same level as a decade ago, according to a new report.
The researchers said the increase is a setback for national youth tobacco prevention goals.
The report found that half of youth-rated movies in 2012 delivered an estimated 14.8 billion "tobacco impressions" to audiences, a 169 percent increase from the historic low in 2010. Tobacco impressions are depictions of tobacco use multiplied by the number of tickets sold per film.
The study was funded by Legacy, a nonprofit, antismoking foundation based in Washington, D.C, USA.
"Movies may be more powerful than traditional tobacco ads," Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of Legacy, said in a foundation news release. "We know that the more smoking that youth see in movies, the more likely they are to smoke. This explosion in on-screen smoking puts hundreds of thousands of young [people] at risk of addiction, disease and premature death."
The report noted that three major film studios had eliminated almost all smoking in their youth-rated movies in 2010. But by 2012, one of the companies — Time Warner's Warner Bros. — had the most depictions of smoking in their youth-rated movies, followed by Sony and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox.