AGs ask streamers to drop tobacco from kids shows
SPRINGFIELD - Illinois' top attorney is asking American video streaming services to avoid showing tobacco products in shows and movies that cater to young viewers.
In a letter sent to Netflix, Amazon, CBS Corp. and the Walt Disney Co., which owns Hulu, Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 42 other attorneys general wrote they wanted to "open a dialogue" about sheltering children from "tobacco imagery."
That refers to representations of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco, as well as packaging, billboards, advertisements and cartoons.
"The industry has, perhaps unwittingly, given countless children the key to a Pandora's box of tobacco imagery, which the U.S. Surgeon General has found causes young people to become smokers," the state officials wrote in the letter.
Almost half of the top-performing movies in the U.S. from 2002 to 2018 were rated PG-13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 56% showed some kind of tobacco use.
Cigarettes are also prevalent in shows carried by streaming companies. A report by the Truth Initiative found more than half of the highest-rated shows carried by services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime showed tobacco use, as compared to similarly rated cable shows (22%) or broadcast shows (38%).
"I encourage the industry to do the responsible thing and limit tobacco use in their video content," Raoul said in a statement. "I am committed to protecting young people from the harmful effects of tobacco use, and limiting their exposure to the glamorization of tobacco use in movies and television is one step we can take."
The attorneys general recommended video streaming services take "reasonable steps to protect viewers from the ill effects of tobacco imagery," including removing nicotine products from content for young viewers; designating certain content as "tobacco-free" for families and children; and refining their parental controls.
Because of a 1998 lawsuit known as the master settlement agreement, tobacco companies agreed to pay several states annual sums to compensate for medical costs related to smoking and were prohibited from advertising directly to minors.
Tobacco-related businesses are not allowed to formally advertise on television or radio as part of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act.
Meanwhile, companies that were sent the attorneys general letter, including Netflix, Amazon, CBS, Comcast and Walt Disney, have not responded to requests for comment.
This is not Raoul's first foray into a tobacco initiative since taking office in January. He signed on to a letter about three months ago asking the Food and Drug Administration to emphasize "enforcement actions against flavored e-cigarettes," according to a news release.
"We hope this letter is the first communication in an ongoing discussion regarding the critical role streaming companies can play in the fight against the renormalization and glamorization of tobacco use," the attorneys general wrote in conclusion.
Some of the states represented by the letter include those that produce tobacco, such as North Carolina and Kentucky.