TVSquad

This is so wrong. Banning? What is this country coming to? When did we become a communist country?

Whats next? Banning people eating sweets on TV? Eating meat? Then what? Whatever happened to free speech in this country.

So many rules, and things banned, and censured.

I'm not a smoker, and I think its a disgusting habit. But we aren't the thought police and we are ruining free choice in this country.

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I don't think you should ban smoking entierly from TV, since this would result in an unrealistic portrayal of life, certainly in certain situations (for example Mad Men, where it was a ubiquitous part of life in the time period), but it should generally be avoided in more kid/adolescent orientated programming, since this is the age when they are most vulnerable to starting.
If there's not a specific reason why a character should smoke (time-periode, socio-cultural) they don't.

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No. I hate smoking and will not associate with smokers but for god's sake, a person smoking on TV is just that, a person smoking on TV. It's utterly meaningless. And let's add violence, drinking, sex and everything else. It's just freaking media.

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This utter horsesh!t about children and smoking is the stuff of tyranny. They're using "protect the kids" as a mantra/excuse for dumbing down/sanitizing our media. Millions of kids grew up in homes with smokers and millions chose not to smoke. If the freaking most important role models in a kid's life can't influence them to smoke, then how dare the government/news/groups come up and demand TV/films remove smoking?!

This country is so far astray of individual responsibility it's sickening.

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Yes.

Also drinking, casual sex, jay walking, going to bed without brushing ones teeth, reading in poorly lit rooms, ordering and consumption of undercooked foods, riding in cars without seat belts, piloting bicycles without proper padding, and anything else that could conceivably lead impressionable minds into doing something dangerous.

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I will never go to a Disney movie again.

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Smoking banned on television? that spells the end of the line for Mad Men! ;-)

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Re: #1, not communist, fascist. Corporate control of government, government control of citizens.

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This is stupid. The FCC should be banned, that's what.

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It is ridiculous to ban smoking. why don't we ban all fast food and soda adds, as those are greater threats to an already overly plump america. If smoking works and makes a character who he/she is then by all means have them smoke. I think it is criminal that supposedly smoking in movies already is supposed to bring a rated R rating.

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They could cut Mad Men from an hour down to about two minutes!

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Ban smoking? Absolutely! I say yes to anything that further reduces the promotion of this disgusting habit. And if you don't think showing it on TV is "promotion", then you are a fool.

I work in advertising, and the only reason TV shows even exist is to sell things. This is a direct result of the power of TV. If advertising didn't work, companies wouldn't spend billions on it each year.

And the most impressionable people are children. When smoking is presented on TV, it's almost always presented in a cool way. My favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica, is the worst offender in this regard. If you watch this show, you'd think that it's impossible to be cool without smoking. Smoking is ALWAYS shown as something cool and desirable to do, because the creators of the show are themselves so enamored of smoking (listen to the episode commentary podcasts for proof).

Smoking starts with children, because they are so impressionable and such followers. I've never known someone to start smoking because they found it enjoyable (I don't care if later on you find it relaxing, I've never known anyone to take their first puffs or hundred puffs and say, mmm... that was good. It always starts with hacking and coughing and the occasional vomiting and having to make one's self fight through the body's rejection of the nicotine and smoke).

Kids start smoking because they think it makes them look cool. And they get that imagery from TV and movies.

I'm sure there are isolated examples, but I've personally never known anyone that STARTED smoking as an adult. By the time someone reaches maturity/adulthood, if they haven't already started smoking they aren't likely to start then. (depending on what stats you use, it's between 90% and 100% of smokers starting to smoke before age 19).

If you can wipe out KIDS starting to smoke, then in a generation, smoking can be wiped out altogether and it will become something that's not profitable for the tobacco industry which will make it harder and more expensive for current smokers to continue to smoke, hopefully causing them to more seriously consider stopping. (sorry, smokers). As you may guess, I'm also totally in favor of the ban on smoking in all offices, restaurants and bars, AND in favor of making it illegal for parents to smoke around their infant children (what are these people thinking??)

The difference between smoking and almost all other 'vices' that get argued about is that it's so clear that smoking starts with, and is targeted towards children and teens. The fewer opportunities kids have to see smoking presented in a positive light, the better chance they have of not wanting to start.


If you doubt my smoking statistical claims, check out some of these links (just a simple google search results page)
http://www.google.com/search?q=age+when+smokers+start+smoking&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

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Censorship is bad, mmk?

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So Victor, how about a smoking ban on shows TARGETTED for children then? Children shouldn't be watching Battlestar Galactica, Mad Men, or the The Sopranos anyways and it's on those shows that smoking is used for more realism anyways.

I'd be fine if Winnie the Pooh never smokes. Just don't tell the frackin' crew of BSG to stop smoking. I mean they live on a ship. Give them a break, man.

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^ Agreed. Nobody dare touch my shows after 9 PM.

If I'm not mistaken, nudity and cursing is allowed in TV shows which air after 9/10 PM in Canada and England.

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Hey Victor, car exhaust is also nasty and can cause health problems and pollution. Should we ban cars from television as well?

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I don't think smoking should be banned, and I have not heard the FCC or any other organization even suggest that was going to happen. However, I would not mind if networks censor themselves. It's bad enough that we have product placement telling us what soda to drink and what cellphones are cool and which cameras take the best pictures.

Personally, I don't mind if smoking or drinking or sex are necessary for the character or plot. I do mind gratuitous use of these things, especially smoking in movies when it is done simply to get the tobacco companies to help pay for the movie.

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If it comes from the studios, fine. Don't do what happened with the re release of ET, though. Remember when Spielberg had all the guns edited out and replaced with walkies? I won't have anything to do with productions that do stupid crap like that.


If it comes from the government, hell no. Minimal government is the key.

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Hmm... I don't think it should be banned.

But I always wondered how it was possible to show smoking on "Studio 60" since I bet my ass that the whole stage is a no-smoking zone. And I guess the writer's room too.

The problem is that with advertising in total disarray nowadays because of TiVos and Bittorrent we now see Jay Leno and David Letterman plugging away for dog food and cars right in the middle of their shows so we can't zap away in time not to see it. And since tobacco companies have a LOT of money free for advertising they might as well pump a lot of money into, let's say, a funny show like "Mad Men" which is about, youknowwhat, advertising in the 60s when smoking was THAT common and ubiquitous that you could say it is a REALLY good ploy to get smoking back on primetime TV.

And please people keep those wiseass comments to yourself like "cars pollute the world too". Pissing is natural too but still it is forbidden to piss on the sidewalk.

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Bob, you should be more clear in your article about Disney banning smoking from their films. They said that they are now banning smoking from *family oriented* films. I doubt they're going to ban smoking from their films targeted at older audience.

I completely agree with #2 (Blackgem). I think smoking should be avoided in kids and family oriented shows, but leave the adult-oriented shows alone. I'd like to echo what #15 (Borat) said: leave my shows after 9pm alone. In the UK, Ofcom (the British equivalent of the FCC) has a rule: no nudity, sexual contents, or obscene languages before 9pm. Shows that are slotted after 9pm are called "post-watershed" (I think that's what it's called). Parents in the UK KNOWS what the shows after 9pm will probably contain so they send their young kids to bed. I think the FCC should do the same.

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