Press Release - June 5, 2001
Press coverage - This study received national attention from the mass media, including coverage on CNN, in The Christian Science Monitor, The Toronto Sun, and in an Associated Press article that appeared in many newspapers and web sites like Web MD and Intelihealth.

Answers to frequently asked questions -

What are the study’s main findings?
How many films did you review?
Why should parents be concerned about alcohol and tobacco use in these films?
What did you observe about the types of characters that use alcohol and tobacco products?
Is the level of alcohol or tobacco use rising in these films?
What alcohol and tobacco products were used in these films?
What messages are children getting from these films?
Which films contained the most alcohol?
Which films contained the most tobacco?
Is all depiction of alchol and tobacco in these films bad?
Where can I find more information about content in films that depict substances?

What are the study’s main findings?

• There is great variation in the amount of alcohol and tobacco use in these films, and characters used a wide range of alcoholic and tobacco products.  Nearly 60 percent of the G-rated feature films reviewed showed characters smoking and/or consuming alcoholic beverages.  On average, there were 42 seconds of exposure to alcohol use per film (range 0 to 2.9 minutes) and an average of 2.1 minutes of exposure to tobacco use per film (range 0 to 10.5 minutes).

• No film showed the use of illicit drugs, although three films showed characters consuming a substance that transfigured them and two films showed characters injected with a drug.

• Parents need to be aware that alcohol and tobacco use is common in G-rated animated films, and should consider watching these films with their children and taking advantage of opportunities to talk to their kids about potentially harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco use.

• A "G" rating does not automatically signify that the film is free of potentially objectionable behavior such as tobacco and alcohol use.  Parents should not overlook these videos as a source of exposure to alcohol and tobacco use for children.

• The study does not suggest that children should be prohibited from watching these animated films. The study concludes that many G-rated animated films contain material that may be objectionable. Parents need to judge for themselves the appropriateness of the material and should not exclusively rely on the current rating system as a guide.
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Our review included 81 G-rated animated feature films first released in theaters and available for rental on videocassette before October 31, 2000.  A list of the films reviewed and the information that we collected is summarized in the Pediatrics article.
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Why should parents be concerned about alcohol and tobacco use in these films?

While the link between experiencing media that show a behavior and the imitation of the behavior by youth is limited to correlation, not causation, our study finds that many of these films marketed to children show drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco as normative behavior and fail to convey the long-term consequences of substance use.  We are highlighting an important opportunity for parents to use these animated films to talk to their children about the potentially harmful health effects of consuming alcohol and/or tobacco.
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What did you observe about the types of characters that use alcohol and tobacco products?

The study finds that use of alcohol and tobacco is not limited to "bad guys."  In fact, good guys were shown drinking alcohol or smoking nearly as often as the bad guys.
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Is the level of alcohol or tobacco use rising in these films?

There are large differences in the amount of alcohol and tobacco use in the films. Thirty-three of the 81 films we reviewed contained no alcohol or tobacco use. On the other hand, "The Three Caballeros" had the highest amount of tobacco exposure at nearly 10 and a half minutes while "Sleeping Beauty" had the longest amount for exposure to alcohol at nearly three minutes.

We did find a statistically significant decrease in the amount of both alcohol and tobacco use in films over time. This relationship implies that on average a film released in the early 1940's had 46 seconds of alcohol use while a film released in the late 1990's had approximately 10 seconds of alcohol use.  Similarly, on average a film released in the early 1940's had 136 seconds of tobacco use while a film released in the late 1990's had approximately 21 seconds of tobacco use.

While these results are encouraging, the trends do not provide a strong indication of a commitment from the film industry to eliminate the depiction of alcohol and tobacco use in G-rated animated films.
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What alcohol and tobacco products were used in these films?

Wine was the most commonly consumed form of alcohol (39%), followed by beer (24%), champagne (20%), and spirits – hard liquor (17%).  Cigars were the most commonly used tobacco product (67%), followed by pipe smoking (14%), cigarettes (11%), other tobacco products (5%), and a combination of products were seen in 3% of the scenes.  The table in the Pediatrics article summarizes which alcohol and tobacco products were used in each film.
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What messages are children getting from these films?

Only three films contained a message that a character should stop smoking and none contained messages about restricting consumption of alcohol.  In addition, thirteen out of the 81 G-rated animated features (16%) contained scenes set in a bar or nightclub.  The presence of a bar or nightclub scene is a significant predictor for the presence of alcohol and tobacco use in the film, and the high incidence of violent acts occurring in the bar and nightclub scenes suggests that bars are exciting and dangerous places.
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Which films contained the most alcohol?

Which films contained the most tobacco?

Is all depiction of alchol and tobacco in these films bad?

That is a question for all of us. Our study finds that there is a significant amount of alcohol and tobacco use in many G-rated animated films. Once parents are aware of their children's exposure to alcohol and tobacco use, they can make more informed choices about media and talk to their children about substance use issues.
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Check out Internet sites such as Screen It! that post information about potentially objectionable material in films. Parents can use these resources to determine if the material in the film is appropriate for their child, as well as prepare to discuss the alcohol, tobacco, or drug use in the films with their children.
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http://www.kidsrisk.harvard.edu/faqs2.html