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Quote by: Netopalis  The reason for the disconnect between this opinion and the NC-17 thread is quite simple - the motivation behind making all movies with smoking NC-17 movies is the idea that children will do anything which they see on film. |
Actually, the motive is only that the number of children smoking will
increase due to children watching the movie. This is almost self-evidently true; if 30 second ads influence people, obviously 120 minute movies with vastly more emotional power and interest will influence people. That doesn't mean everyone who watches a movie will smoke; as spammers well know, you don't need anything near 100% success to make a huge profit.
Even if you gave cigarettes to children not all would smoke them! The difference between giving cigarettes and advertising them through movies (and that is what it is) is only that one is more direct. If we are looking from the perspective of public health there is no inherent difference.