Sued for smoking: movie regulations.

• Author: Butcher, Anne
• Position: California class-action lawsuit re tobacco use in movies - Citings - Brief article

A class-action lawsuit in California alleges that all movies featuring tobacco use should be rated R or higher.

Plaintiff Timothy Forsyth argues that tobacco use in films increases the likelihood that young audience members will start smoking. Hollywood, Forsyth claims, has known this since at least 2003. Cinematic smoking allows tobacco companies to circumvent prohibitions against broadcast advertising, he contends.

The defendants include the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which rates movies, the National Association of Theater Owners, which largely enforces the ratings, and a number of production companies that make the movies in the first place.

Should plaintiffs get their way, it would be an unprecedented government intrusion into a largely self-regulated industry. There is no legal obligation to have the...