Effects of smoking cues in movies on immediate smoking behavior

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of smoking cues in movies on immediate smoking behavior. We tested whether smokers who are confronted with smoking characters in a movie smoke more cigarettes while watching than those confronted with non-smoking characters and whether this effect is less profound when smokers are more involved in the narrative (i.e., transportation).

Method: Using an experimental design, 60 daily smokers were assigned randomly to one of two movie conditions (smoking vs. non-smoking characters). Participants were exposed to a 72-min movie clip and were allowed to smoke while watching the movie. Transportation and smoking habits were assessed with a questionnaire afterward.

Results: The results showed a significant interaction effect between movie condition and transportation on immediate smoking behavior, indicating that smokers who were less transported smoked significantly more cigarettes when they were exposed to smoking characters compared with non-smoking characters.

Discussion: These results call for (a) increasing the awareness among people about the effect smoking cues in movies might have and (b) stricter control over smoking cues in movies.