Effect of Viewing Smoking Scenes in Motion Pictures on Subsequent Smoking Desire in Audiences in South Korea

Abstract

BackgroundIn the modern era of heightened awareness of public health, smoking scenes in movies remain relatively free from public monitoring. The effect of smoking scenes in movies on the promotion of viewers’ smoking desire remains unknown.ObjectiveThe study aimed to explore whether exposure of adolescent smokers to images of smoking in fılms could stimulate smoking behavior.MethodsData were derived from a national Web-based sample survey of 748 Korean high-school students. Participants aged 16-18 years were randomly assigned to watch three short video clips with or without smoking scenes. After adjusting covariates using propensity score matching, paired sample t test and logistic regression analyses compared the difference in smoking desire before and after exposure of participants to smoking scenes.ResultsFor male adolescents, cigarette craving was significantly higher in those who watched movies with smoking scenes than in the control group who did not view smoking scenes (t307.96=2.066, P<.05). In the experimental group, too, cigarette cravings of adolescents after viewing smoking scenes were significantly higher than they were before watching smoking scenes (t161.00=2.867, P<.01). After adjusting for covariates, more impulsive adolescents, particularly males, had significantly higher cigarette cravings: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.40 (95% CI 1.40-8.23). However, those who actively sought health information had considerably lower cigarette cravings than those who did not engage in information-seeking: aOR 0.08 (95% CI 0.01-0.88).ConclusionsSmoking scenes in motion pictures may increase male adolescent smoking desire. Establishing a standard that restricts the frequency of smoking scenes in films and assigning a smoking-related screening grade to films is warranted.

Smoking susceptibility among non-smoking school-going adolescents in Malaysia: findings from a national school-based survey

“…In contrast to various findings that reported an association and causal relationship between smoking scenes in movies and smoking initiation among adolescents56 57as well as several human behavioural theories such as social learning theory58 and contextual effect theory,59 watching someone smoking might increase the likelihood of behavioural imitation followed by the instillation of a smoking-positive memory among viewers, which can influence future real-life behaviour 60. We did not find a significant association between being susceptible to smoking and watching someone smoking in a movie after adjusting for the confounding effect of other independent variables, which is in line with the finding by Polanska et al ,17 which showed no significant association between seeing someone smoking in a movie with SS.…”

Cigarette Smoking in South Korea: A Narrative Review

“…An experimental study conducted in South Korea examined the role of contextual factors on smoking, such as smoking scenes in movies. 58) It was found that Korean adolescent males, in particular, were more likely to crave a cigarette after watching a smoking scene.…”

Influence of socioeconomics and social marketing on smoking in Thailand: A National Survey in 2017

“…Environment is also an important factor that can promote and stimulate a person to smoke in different places, which increases the smoking rate 19,20 . Moreover, it is observed that advertisements promote smoking initiation among youth 21 .…”