The popularity of streaming, combined with the pervasive rise of smoking in episodic content, is putting a new generation of young Americans at risk.
Truth Initiative has released four reports on this topic, showing that tobacco imagery pervades streaming shows despite pledges by media companies to reduce on-screen tobacco use. Researchers analyzed the 15 most popular broadcast and streaming shows among young people aged 15-24 and found that:
60% of young people’s favorite new releases featured images of tobacco, including top shows depicting youth and teen tobacco use such as “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Rick and Morty,” “Big Mouth,” and “Law & Order SVU.” The top shows alone are responsible for exposing an estimated 27 million young people to tobacco imagery in 2020, but they are far from the only popular content featuring tobacco imagery.
64% of the top binge-watched shows among young people included tobacco depictions. Netflix was the top offender for the fourth year in a row, with 651 tobacco depictions in its 2020 shows, with shows like “The Umbrella Academy,” and “The Queen’s Gambit” managing to include tobacco in every episode. Netflix has yet to act on its “public pledge” to cut back on tobacco depictions. Instead, the streaming giant appears to respond to bad press covering its top tobacco offending shows with statements about how it will reduce tobacco imagery but fails to act in a meaningful way, including publishing a formal policy.
Music videos, another major pop culture influence, also prove to be common sources of tobacco imagery on screen. An analysis of the top 2020 Billboard songs finds that 23% of the songs featured smoking and/or vaping in their music videos, amassing over 6 billion views on YouTube alone.