Leftovers Again Tonight? Smoking on TV and Why It Matters
Media depictions of smoking have decreased dramatically in recent decades, but haven’t disappeared entirely. What is the public health impact of smoking in current TV shows and movies?
If you tuned in HBO’s 2014 show “The Leftovers” and found yourself thinking there was something odd about it, you’d be right. And I’m not even talking about the part where 2% of the world’s population vanishes into thin air rapture-style. No, I’m referring to the sheer amount of screen time dedicated to smoking cigarettes. The smokers are members of an enigmatic cult called The Guilty Remnant. This fringe group responds to the global crisis by wearing all white, taking a vow of silence, and chain smoking. According to the show’s creator Tom Perrotta, they smoke as “a declaration of faith and a sense that they have that there’s no future and they don’t have to worry about their health.” At least in this statement, the show demonstrates a basic understanding of the devastating health effects of smoking.
Smoking on TV — especially in a futuristic drama — is a strange sight post-Master Settlement Agreement. Since 1998, cigarette advertising has been banned from the airwaves and self-imposed network and movie studio standards dictate that, in keeping with societal trends, tobacco use on TV and in movies is kept to a minimum to avoid promoting smoking to impressionable viewers, particularly children. Although depictions of smoking on TV and in movies may have decreased since the MSA, The Leftovers is an exception and it’s not likely to be the last. So what can these representations reveal about how social norms around smoking may be shifting? Interestingly, smoking on the small screen is mostly by minor characters (often villains or protagonists), members of a fringe group (as in The Leftovers), or in a throwback reference to days gone by (like Mad Men). The New York Times Arts Mic Blog addressed the topic, arguing that the constant smoking by The Guilty Remnant redefines the behavior and by making it look less than glamorous avoids appealing to impressionable viewers.
However, our understanding of how media influence health behaviors tells another story. Smoking is largely absent from popular culture precisely because it has such a powerful effect on health behavior, which is supported by extensive research. Notably, Dr. James Sargent and his team at Dartmouth have found that smoking in movies has a profound impact on youth. In one of their studies, they found that when stars smoke on screen, their behavior is reflected in the attitudes and behaviors of young viewers that admire them. Smoking in the media triggers cigarette smoking not just among youth, but also among adults. We are aware of no research to suggest that just because a smoking character is part of a counterculture or a throwback the exposure won’t have an impact. But we do know that not all media coverage is created equal — our own research reveals that state-sponsored anti-tobacco advertising is associated with lowered smoking while similar media campaigns created by the tobacco industry are associated with a greater likelihood of smoking.
We do have ways to test the waters about the impact of media exposure to smoking in real time. In the past, we’ve used Twitter to measure how viewers respond to anti-tobacco advertising in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Tips from Former Smokers” Campaign. A quick search of “The Leftovers” and “smoking” on Twitter yields a lot of “WTF” reactions from viewers who can’t quite make sense of the smoking cult (and that’s even after wading through tweets where people talk about smoking weed and then eating last night’s leftovers).
Other viewers see the smoking and respond with a desire to smoke.
Apparently some viewers are responding to onscreen smoking exactly as we feared they would — with increased desire to smoke. Obviously, the relationship between media depictions of smoking and smoking behavior is at once complicated and simple. Yes, shows like The Leftovers are depicting smoking in a much less glamorous light, but visual imagery of smoking triggers cravings in some smokers without distinguishing between the kinds of characters who are doing it.
While it is not against the law to show tobacco use in a television show, a delicate balance needs to be struck between freedom of speech and public health risk. Recently, NBC took a stand by censoring smoking out of the new “Constantine” show. While this move caused an initial uproar (in the original comic book the show is adapted from, the title character is a notorious smoker), eventually fans moved on. Ultimately, we need more research on smoking in pop culture and more networks and show creators to step up, weigh the health impacts of their programming, and take a stand against smoking on television.
