My friends and I absolutely LOVE going to see movies. We especially like action packed thrillers like John Wick: Chapter 2! Although the movie could’ve been absolutely amazing, it became pretty drab seeing the main character smoking. I understand the appeal in having your angry revenge seeking character smoking because it gives them that “cool” look.

Well let me tell you, it isn’t cool when you have the youth of today picking up on that habit. In this day and age many of us (speaking on behalf of some teens) are very impressionable and can pick up the dangerous habit that is smoking. I know I can’t have you remove the act of smoking from your movies but it would be nice to include a disclaimer about the dangers of smoking and what it can do to you physically and mentally. How about letting viewers know about how tar builds in throat or how it can make your lungs fail or the awful cancers that cigarettes are known to cause?

Even if you fail to see where I’m coming, how about looking at the statistics and new research by the CDC, showing you that there’s been a 90 percent increase in tobacco related incidents in R rated movies from 2010 to 2016. This is big news, because the study has found that teens who watch movies with smoking are more likely to pick up the deadly habit, the more movies with smoking they watch the greater the chances. We need to keep youth safe and healthy and away from body pollutants. As a member of the Social Development Commission FACT group, part of Wisconsin’s youth-led tobacco prevention movement, I’m writing this letter today in hopes that that I can convince film-makers to reduce the amount of “cigarette appearances” in movies.

FACT is part of the Wisconsin Tobacco Prevention movement and is managed by the American Lung Association. For more information on FACT visit factmovement.org. To read the CDC’s full report on smoking in the movies click here.