San Diego – Disney is trying to kick the habit.
Responding to pressure from lawmakers and anti-smoking groups, Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday it will do more to discourage depictions of smoking in films made by its Disney, Touchstone and Miramax subsidiaries, and will eventually eliminate them from its Disney-branded films.
It also said it would add anti-smoking public service announcements on any future DVDs that contain depictions of smoking, and also plans to work with theater owners to run similar announcements before such films.
Disney gave no timetable for snuffing out smoking in its films.
Its announcement comes a month after a congressional hearing in which big media companies were warned that they should do more to discourage smoking and violence in movies.
About 75 percent of movies made by Disney or its subsidiaries between 1999 and 2006 – including about half of its youth-oriented films – contained scenes depicting smoking, according to Smoke Free Movies, a project run by a University of California at San Francisco medical professor.
In May, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it will consider smoking in determining ratings.
