EVALUATION TOOL

"WATCH WHAT YOU'RE WATCHING"

How to Count the Incidence of Tobacco Use in Movies

How often is tobacco used? In some movies no one uses tobacco, in others it can be in almost every scene. A way to compare movies is to note each time tobacco is used on the screen.

WHAT IS AN INCIDENT?

• It is the use of tobacco products such as cigarettes/cigars/pipes or chew, which are lit or unlit.
• Because A GROUP of smokers can be hard to count, it is counted as one incident. A group is around 10 or more people than you can count.
• A pack/carton shown on screen is one incident.
• More than one pack or carton is counted as one group incident.
  There is space on the evaluation form for a group incident.

Here are some examples:

This is ONE incident.

The camera shows the same person smoking in a close-up and then a distant frame, and
then in a close-up.  This is THREE incidents.

 
A man is smoking - the camera switches to a non-smoking woman, then back to the smoking man.  These are TWO incidents.  Also if he moves his hand off screen and back again, this is another incident.

Two people smoking at the same time is TWO incidents.

A woman is smoking, it switches to two smoking people, then back to the original person who is still smoking. This makes FOUR smoking incidents.