Thursday, May 17th, 2012
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mso-bidi-language:#0400;}The American Medical Association Alliance (AMAA) is placing a formal complaint against Warner Brothers (WB) because of disturbing tobacco images in the studio?s latest flick?He?s Just Not That Into You. The Alliance wants the studio to ?beef? up its policies on screening tobacco images, most especially in youth-rated films.
The director of the health advocacy group, which is trying to reduce teenage smoking, says the film had ?disturbing images of specific cigarette brands.? The formal complaint will not only involve WB, it will also be bough to its corporate agent?Time Warner.
Amongst other things, AMAA wants WB to certify that they did not receive payments for the cigarette product placements. The advocacy group also mentioned that they intend to ask Hollywood studios to ban filmmakers from showing tobacco brands in their works.
?There is absolutely zero artistic justification for this,? said AMAA director Melissa Walthers in a related phone interview. She also cited studies that linked youth cigarette smoking to cigarette product placements on films. According to Walthers, around 200,000 young people are prompted to smoke by these product placements.
WB spokespersons refused to comment on the matter.
?He?s Just Not That Into You? has sold more than $100 million tickets in a global scale. The PG-13 hit does not depict anyone smoking and does not put cigarettes in a negative perspective, but one part of the plot does involve cigarettes.
One character, played by Jennifer Connelly, leaves her husband because he lied to her about smoking.
In the film, there are numerous tobacco placements, including Natural American Spirit Lights and Marlboro Reds?as mentioned by reports. It has yet to be confirmed if these placements were paid for.
