Hollywood News: Hollywood Beats The Alleged Claims That Its Films Influence Kids To Smoke

It has been previously reported that Hollywood was sued for influencing kids of smoking. As some of their rated PG films show that the characters are smoking tobacco by which claims have been presented that these influence children to have a smoking vice. Now, the court agrees that Hollywood has nothing to do, legally, with the alleged influence. 

Timothy Forsyth filed a class action against the Motion Picture Association of America or MPAA. The claims state that the MPAA rating system was a misrepresentation. As the viewing of tobacco, imagery can influence children to smoke, according to The Guardian. 

The lawsuit stated that "In 2012 the surgeon general concluded that the scientific evidence established that exposure of children to tobacco imagery in films causes children to smoke."

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that in 2014, scientific evidence was found that if the MPAA continues to label the PG and PG-13 ratings on films that have an image of tobacco, the youth rating will influence 3.2 million children to be addicted to nicotine. As a result, 1 million of those children would die from tobacco-related disease.

The MPAA represents six major Hollywood studios. In its defense, it argued that the rating of the film amount to different options. It cited that the first amendment protects the freedom of speech. It stated that the rating system does not intend to "prescribe socially-appropriate values" but to give guidance based on what parents from the U.S. would think about the film's appropriateness for their children.

As follows, Forsyth said that all films that represent smoking should have an R rating. It means that 17-year olds should be accompanied by parents or guardian in cinemas.

However, in a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the judge rejected the argument, stating that "Forsyth insists that a rating less stringent than R is a representation that 'the film is suitable for children under 17 unaccompanied by a parent or guardian'. The ratings plainly make no such representations. Rather, the PG and PG-13 ratings caution parents that material in such movies may be inappropriate for children as such, neither intentional nor negligent misrepresentation claims are tenable as pleaded."

Now, the rating board made up by parents considers three questions where smoking is characterized: it is either pervasive in the film, it glamorizes the act or whether there is a historic or another mitigating context.