New Report Details Alarming Surge in Tobacco Imagery in On-Screen Entertainment Most Popular Among Youth and Young Adults

Truth Initiative’s sixth annual “While You Were Streaming” report calls out harmful depictions that glamorize tobacco, fueling a public health threat of youth e-cigarette use and smoking

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Tobacco imagery is surging in shows, social media, music videos and movies — including nearly every Best Picture nominee at the 2024 Academy Awards — exposing millions of young people to depictions that glamorize and normalize tobacco use. The impact of tobacco imagery is well documented, with recent peer-reviewed research showing that exposure to such images makes young people up to three times more likely to start vaping, while the U.S. Surgeon General concluded in 2012 that youth and young adults were twice as likely to smoke compared to those with less exposure. According to Truth Initiative’s sixth annual “While You Were Streaming” report titled, “Lights, Camera, Tobacco? How Rising Smoking and Vaping Imagery in Top Entertainment Influences E-Cigarette Use and Fuels Nicotine Addiction Among Young Audiences,” this adds up to a serious public health threat, putting a new generation at risk for a lifetime of nicotine addiction.