"With ever tighter restrictions on tobacco advertising, film remains one of the last channels exposing millions of adolescents to smoking imagery without restrictions," said Douglas Bettcher, WHO Director for the Department of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases.
WHO proposed that movies with tobacco scenes be given a higher classification. Movie-makers should stop displaying tobacco brands and indicate in credits that producers are not paid for displaying tobacco products in films, the watchdog said.
In 2014, almost half of Hollywood movies had scenes with people smoking in them, and 36 percent of those films were rated as suitable for young viewers.
WHO cited US studies that found on-screen smoking accounts for 37 percent of all new adolescent smokers. Tobacco imagery was also found in top-grossing movies produced in Germany, Britain, Iceland, Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands.
