Smoke signals.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills - Brief Article

"Tobacco Makers Want Cigarettes Cut from Films." I couldn't believe this headline in The Wall Street Journal. The article reported that, "because state authorities in California have begun to inform tobacco companies that they are obliged to police the use of their brands in films," cigarette makers are now writing to movie studios asking that their products not appear on screen.

The trouble with the story is that the Journal reports it without its tongue planted firmly in its cheek. For years, the tobacco companies have plotted and conspired to get their cigarettes smoked by the stars, with the brand identified on screen if at all possible. A...