Smoking governor joins crusade against teen smoking

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for his cigar-a-day habit. But that's not stopping him from putting his muscle behind the effort to curb tobacco use among minors.

The state announced a deal Friday with six major movie studios to run California public service announcements through 2009 on new movie DVDs that include smoking scenes and are rated G, PG or PG-13. Hollywood has long been accused of glamorizing smoking and having a bad influence on movie-watching youths.

"The anti-smoking crusade is taking now another giant step forward," Schwarzenegger said at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. "As a matter of fact, by agreeing to include our anti-smoking ads in the opening minutes of the DVDs, especially those that contain tobacco use, the studios will help us reach tens of millions more viewers."

The DVD ads are aimed at children under 17, an age distinction Schwarzenegger made Friday when describing his own cigar use and its effect on his four kids.

The governor has graced the cover of Cigar Aficionado and has two smoking tents in Sacramento, one in a Capitol courtyard, the other on his balcony at the Hyatt Regency. He says the important thing is to persuade children not to take up smoking regardless of adults' personal habits.

"Even though they see me every so often light up a cigar, I let them know, 'Don't ever try and start smoking,' " Schwarzenegger said. "I, of course, have a wonderful excuse because I can blame my father-in-law (Sargent Shriver) for getting me to start to smoke cigars. Because I never smoked until 1977, until he offered it to me in Hyannis Port (the Cape Cod, Mass., home of the Kennedy compound). Since then, I've been smoking one cigar a day."

The first PSA will appear on the Sony Pictures film "21," a PG-13 story about a team of card-counting blackjack players in Las Vegas. The DVD, to be released July 22, will feature a state-produced ad that flashes through images of a cowboy, DJ and 1920s flapper before focusing on a man in a wheelchair who warns against smoking.

The movie-star governor does not appear in the ads.

The Movie Picture Association of America last year began accounting for all smoking scenes when deciding how to rate a film. In the past, MPAA only considered scenes of underage smoking, said spokesman Seth Oster.

According to a University of California, San Francisco, study, 74 percent of PG-13 films and 37 percent of G- and PG-rated films depicted tobacco use between 1999 and 2006.

The six studios that signed contracts with the state are Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Time Warner, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Twentieth Century Fox. They will be responsible for determining when a film meets the criteria, while the state will monitor their compliance, said Health and Human Services Agency Secretary S. Kimberly Belshé.

The ads will appear on DVDs sold nationwide. The state is lobbying National Cinemedia, which controls advertising for national movie theater chains, to run the spots as well.

State and industry officials said Friday that the studios will not be compensated. Rather, the move seems designed to counter criticism from anti-smoking groups.

Paul Knepprath, vice president of government relations for the American Lung Association of California, called the announcement a "positive step," but his organization says the MPAA should slap an R rating on all movies with smoking scenes. Children under 17 cannot see R-rated films in theaters without an adult or guardian.

"While this is a positive step for movies that already have tobacco imagery, the Lung Association supports an R rating for all movies with tobacco images," Knepprath said. "The only exception is when the dangers of tobacco use are shown or it is necessary to depict real, historical figures."

Such as the governor of California, perhaps?

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• Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.