Comments on: How Goofy is Disney’s smoking ban?

By: Barry Hummel MD

Barry Hummel MD — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:03:34 +0000

Children are profoundly influenced by smoking in movies, because it normalizes an addictive, aberrent behavior. Parents can counteract that by discussing with their children that nicotine addiction is a true drug addiction.
The problem with Disney’s older animated films is that the smoking was not always done by the villain, and frequently the smoking was used as a sight gag, drawing even more attention to it. If you don’t believe me, check out:

I would never advocate going back and removing scenes from these old movies, but I certainly applaud Disney’s efforts to eliminate unecessary scenes of smoking from its future children’s films.
For more information on the impact of onscreen smoking on the onset of teen smoking, visit http://www.smokescreeners.org

By: Stephanie T.

Stephanie T. — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:30:19 +0000

Exactly Honeybee. We all had to learn about alcohol prohabition in American History 2 in high school, and media immersion has become a part of the high school curriculum, and these teachers have to show print advertisments like the old Joe Camel, and the Marboro Man because it is history-a bad part of history but still. We can’t go around deleting the bad parts simply because they are bad, but we can say oh well this is what happened then and now we know that smoking does kill. Still even if some people do smoke, that is their choice. A very expensive and deadly choice, but a choice.

By: Martha

Martha — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 02:28:17 +0000

Knowing a little something about the corporate mindset, my guess is that Disney voluntarily banned smoking from its kids entertainment (not, as you notice, from the Touchstone or Miramax brands) as a pre-emptive move to avoid having the government or some other regulatory body do it for them. For whatever reason, this American Legacy Foundation that is pressuring Hollywood (and politicians) about smoking in movies has money and power behind it…enough to make the studios sit up and take notice. I’m not saying I agree with the ban – I’m just saying that Disney is likely going along to protect itself. I wouldn’t be surprised if other studios follow suit.

By: Honeybee

Honeybee — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:11:05 +0000

I do tend to agree that this is a slippery slope, what behavior will be banned next? What if the movie takes place in a time when people smoked or has a historic character (Groucho Marx, Winston Churchill, FDR) that smoked….it just doesn’t feel right.

By: kcholt68

kcholt68 — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:25:23 +0000

Here’s what I have to say on the topic:
http://moviedearest.blogspot.com/2007/07/hey-cruella-put-it-out.html
- kch, moviedearest.blogspot.com

By: Nix

Nix — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:46:14 +0000

People should not expect people to make wise decisions about smoking, raising children, or essentially anything else. We always abuse our freedom if we are given any.

By: t3hdow

t3hdow — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:50:42 +0000

Come on Ep Sato…even Joss Whedon expressed his vile distaste over torture porn, so it’s a little unfair to only call out Lisa (even though I agree with your rant).
Anyway, this story mirrors Dalton Ross’s article about the French trying to remove smoking from Tom and Jerry because it’s a bad influence on kids. I’m sorry but no child is going to light a cigarette from a cartoon. Also, like a few of you stated, it was a sign of the times. Censoring the cartoons because of fledging standards is just unnecessary. In that regard, should we blacklist Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness from classic lit, even though the man was a blatant racist? Should we censor questionable dialog towards the Japanese (i.e. shifty eyed Japs) on the old Batman TV show, even though it was made around WWII? Should future generations omit fictional depictions of torture over this decade, even though it represents the psychological after effects of this nation after 9/11? Where will it end?

By: Stephanie Travitsky

Stephanie Travitsky — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:07:36 +0000

A lot of the smoking that was done in cartoons and films in the old times was dones because at the time to have a cigarette meant that the person was sophisticated and wealthy. Now because we finally got the message that smoking kills it’s a totally different ballgame. To be fair, kids were already warned about the effects of smoking through cartoons during the mid fourties but kids at the time never took them seriously. One of the most famous cartoons that showed this warning was a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Tom inhaled a cigar and exhaled the smoke into Jerry’s mouse hole so that Jerry would be smoked out of his home. Tom eventually turned green from inhaling too much smoke. My mom grew up in the fifities and sixties and she said that when she was a kid she and her other friends saw adults smoke and they thought that smoking was a mildstone to maturity.Disney should not remove smoking because seeing characters smoke would give kids a taste of media history. That was then, this is now.

By: Klapaucius

Klapaucius — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:38:52 +0000

I don’t think the cigarette should be removed from Cruella DeVil’s hand.
When children see smoking on television it does not mean they are going to be smokers in the future. My father smoked when I was growing up and I have NEVER had the urge to light up a cigarette and start smoking for the rest of my life.
People think cigarettes are the cause of lung cancer, yes, but not totally. How about the cars that we drive, the Space Shuttle, planes, trains, buses and the list goes on. They give out the same carcinogens as smoking does but in a much larger amount.
I don’t want to start a fight here but It was just something for everyone to think about.
And finally, cigarettes don’t kill as much as alcohol either. More people die each year from getting killed in a car accident by a drunk driver than a person smoking around them causing cancer. I don’t like smoking either, but I also don’t like alcohol.
I don’t want to come on as being rude but It was just something I wanted to say.

By: ronaldo

ronaldo — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:32:39 +0000

Clem – I was thinking the same thing. Pretend with candy cigs growing up didn’t lead to the real thing. Agree with some others that the ultimate burden, as usual, is with parents. If kids don’t see smoking in Disney films, there are still many influences out there in other forms. What a joke.