MPAA says "No more smoking for you Hollywood!"

Have you ever seen the movie "Thank you for Smoking" If not let me tell you the the basics. A Pro-Smoking lobbyist (Arron Eckhart) attempts to convince a Hollywood producer to inject people smoking in all his films. So more Americans would start smoking. There is a political battle between Eckhart and William H Macy an anti-smoking Governor. Who is trying to ban smoking in films. Hyjinks insure and the whole thing is Very Fuuny.

What does that have to do with the real world you ask? Well it looks like a real life battle is happening now MPAA is trying to stop smoking for real in films and there asking an Ivy league school for help.

The MPAA asked Harvard for advice on how to handle movie smoking. Harvard's response? "We're suggesting that they take smoking out of youth accessible films: G, PG and PG-13, which make up 85% of all movies." And the MPAA is listening.

The MPAA has a relatively new boss—Dan Glickman—and as we reported earlier this week, he's making some moves. The organization has come down on revolting ads for the horror film Captivity, perhaps hoping to impress the government with its responsiveness on the issue of Hollywood selling violence in a manner that reaches children. With the Federal Trade Commission about to release a report on that issue, Glickman's actions may be too little, too late. And the MPAA could have similar problems when it comes to smoking.

Powerful anti-smoking groups have been pushing the MPAA to slap any movie that shows smoking with an automatic R rating, unless that movie deals with a historical figure who actually smoked (think Good Night and Good Luck) or shows people suffering hideous consequences as a result of their folly. According to the research of a group called Smoke Free Movies, most PG-13 movies depict smoking, and that contributes to hundreds of thousands of kids taking up cigarettes.read more

Do you think Kids start smoking becuase they watch it in a Movie? Do you think any movie with smoking should be rated R? Leave a comment and tell me what you think