Tobacco Brand Appearances in Movies Before and After the Master Settlement Agreement
- Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, PhD
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anna.adachi-mejia@dartmouth.edu
Department of Pediatrics
- Madeline A. Dalton, PhD
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Department of Pediatrics
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Department of Community and Family Medicine
- Michael L. Beach, MD, PhD
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Department of Anesthesia
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Department of Community and Family Medicine
- Todd F. Heatherton, PhD
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Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
- James D. Sargent, MD
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Department of Pediatrics
Dartmouth Medical School
Hanover, NH
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- ADVERTISING
- MOTION PICTURES
- SMOKING
- TOBACCO INDUSTRY
To the Editor: Product placement in movies has long been used to promote cigarette sales and brand awareness.1 The November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between state attorneys general and major tobacco companies prohibits payment for tobacco brand placement in movies.2 To evaluate whether the MSA has affected the number of tobacco brand appearances (TBAs) in movies, we analyzed the top 100 US box-office films per year for 1996-2003.
Methods
Because most movies released in 1999 were in production prior to the MSA, we used year of release to classify movies as pre-MSA (1996-1999; n = 400) or post-MSA (2000-2003; n = 400). Using previously validated methods,3-4 2 coders viewed theater versions of movies on videotape or DVD (except 1 IMAX movie viewed and coded in the theater) and recorded the number of times a tobacco brand appeared and which brands were shown in each movie. All TBAs identified by …
