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Several groups have gathered together to tackle smoking in
movies. One of these groups may inspire you to ACT! |
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| OVX
stands for Our Voices Xposed. OVX is a youth-led,
youth-run movement in Vermont, US that is focused on
exposing the truth about tobacco. They have a campaign
called Butts Against Hollywood which includes
their own movie trailers, e-cards, t-shirts, quizzes,
and other actions to stir awareness. Check out their
site:
http://www.ovx.org/ |
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| S.W.A.T.—Students Working
Against Tobacco from West Kildonan Collegiate in Winnipeg
hosted the 2005 Black Lung Awards to raise awareness in
their area. In the style of the Academy Awards, the students
awarded actors and animated characters with such titles as the —
Wrinkle Award, Chimney Award, and Pink Lung Award , to name a
few. The Globe and Mails reported the event and stated, "They
include Disney villainess Cruella de Ville, animated fashion
designer Edna Mode from The Incredibles, and 11-year-old Dakota
Fanning, who won SWAT's Second-Hand Smoke Award. When |
the group's members weren't doling
out awards, they were bringing to light some interesting
assertions. They say that in April 2005, 19 of the 20
top-grossing movies featured smoking of some kind, and 13 of
those 20 were considered youth-rated."
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The Hackademy Awards - an annual award given by
anti-smoking activists to the movies and actors with both, the
most frequent and gratuitous scenes of cigarette smoking—thumbs
down, and to the movies that do not include smoking—thumbs up.
In 2005 Mean Girls portrayed the more toxic side of high school
social life but left out the most toxic threat to today’s teens
by ignoring tobacco use as a prop, making the PG-13 movie—thumbs
up winner!
Check out the website campaign "Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!" working
with American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails
that is designed to raise awareness about the impact of tobacco
use in the movies on young people:
http://www.saclung.org/thumbs/TUTDreports.htm |
Mean Girls receives praise
for not including smoking in it, but alas, Lindsey Lohan
, star of the film (seen here in centre) is an avid
smoker... |
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"I think a certain obligation comes with the job. I didn't go to clubs
before I was 21. You will never find a picture of me smoking. Well,
that's because I don't smoke, [though] I did for a little bit. I hated
it. It wasn't for me"
--Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV Guide, Feb. 14, '00)
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