SAMPLE LETTER

May 12, 2008

Dear Mr.

I’m a parent and I’m very concerned about the smoking in films rated G, PG and PG-13.  I’ve learned that on-screen smoking is a major influence on teens in the United States.  It’s more powerful than traditional tobacco ads and undermines all attempts by parents like me to keep my kids safe from tobacco, America’s #1 cause of preventable death.

Your motion picture studio has a poor record on smoking in kid-related movies.  I am convinced that the movies you produce and distribute are dangerous to children and adolescents.  Major health groups agree.

There is an easy way to solve this problem.  You already tailor films to meet certain age standards on language, sex, and violence.  It is at least as important to rate them according to their smoking content—the only content scientifically proven to physically harm young people.  In fact, experts have estimated that your films influence 390,000 kids a year to smoke!

Now that the rest of us know how harmful these images are, I urge that you pledge to stop producing or distributing G, PG, and PG-13 rated movies with smoking, and, in the future, push the MPAA to rate smoking “R” across the industry.

That is a reasonable but effective answer to this terrible health challenge.  If you do any less, you risk losing the trust and respect of parents across America.  I know.  I am one of them.

Please tell me how soon your company will end smoking in youth-rated movies.  I will be following your actions closely.

 

Sincerely,