Marie Gicquel / Photo credits: NZ / CHRISTOPHEL COLLECTION VIA AFP 09:37, 02 November 2023

Cigarettes still play an important role in film productions, despite the Evin law, which prohibits tobacco and alcohol advertising. This emphasis on tobacco in cultural productions is not without consequences for young people.

The Tobacco-Free Month kicked off on Wednesday. For smokers, this may be an opportunity to hang up their cigarettes. This is a difficult decision, especially since there are many incentives to smoke, especially in the cinema. Despite the Evin law, many film productions continue to feature smoking characters.

An influence for the youngest

In 2023, the box-office heroes have burned themselves out a few. From Oppenheimer, to Anatomy of a Fall and more recently Scorsese's Killer of the Flower Moon... Tobacco is still present in 90% of films. "You have to remember that a French film is about three minutes of smoking, which corresponds to five or six TV commercials," explains Loïc Josserand, president of the Alliance Against Tobacco.

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"About 35 to 40 percent of young people who start smoking do so because they've seen a smoking scene in the movies," he said.

Series also affected

Even on the series side, the platforms' programmes remain smoky: "Documentary series are also concerned. The Formula One series on Netflix is a non-stop advertisement for tobacco. You see cigarette brands all the time."

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And even if some mythical characters of the seventh art have abandoned the cigarette in their mouth, such as James Bond, the spy remains exposed to the passive smoking of his partners, as explained by a recent study.