Smoke Free Movies: Brand Identification

Amount of smoking in each studio's films

Share of tobacco brand displays (1990-2008)		% of studio's films with brands that were youth-rated	Philip Morris’ share of films with brands
Time Warner	23%	32% (13 of 41)	66% (27 of 41)
Sony	21%	49% (18 of 37)	62% (23 of 37)
Viacom	13%	42% (10 of 24)	83% (20 of 24)
Disney	13%	22% (5 of 23)	70% (16 of 23)
GE	11%	42% (8 of 19)	68% (13 of 19)
News Corp.	10%	50% (9 of 18)	61% (11 of 18)
Indies	10%	28% (5 of 18)	61% (11 of 18)
TOTAL	100%	38% (68 of 180)	67% (121 of 180)
Note: Philip Morris USA claims 41% of the domestic retail cigarette market. Philip Morris International claims 16% of the market outside the USA.

From 1990 through 2008, at least 180 major U.S. motion pictures displayed or mentioned tobacco brands. In two-thirds of these films, the brands belonged to Philip Morris — mostly Marlboro.

In recent years, total appearances by British American Tobacco brands (Winston, Kool, etc.) have been catching up. But of brands smoked by leading actors on screen, Philip Morris outnumbers British American Tobacco two to one.

Sony, Time Warner, Viacom display the most brands.

Under Congressional pressure in 1990 tobacco companies promised not to pay for product placement. 1998’s Master Settlement Agreement between domestic tobacco firms and top law enforcement officials made the pledge legally binding. Still, more than 80 percent of tobacco brand appearances in top-grossing movies after 1998 look just like paid placements before 1998: brands from competing companies are kept off-screen.

Independent films show few tobacco brands. Ninety percent of U.S. films showing or mentioning tobacco brands have come from major studios owned by media conglomerates, reaching hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

Of particular interest to law enforcement officials mandated to enforce the Master Settlement Agreement? More than a third of movies (38 percent) identified as displaying tobacco brands have been youth-rated.

Branded or un-branded, movie smoking recruits teens.

Before 1990, tobacco companies publicly claimed that they passively responded to requests for tobacco branding, signage, and other imagery. They lied. Internal documents show they financed program of product placement agents to get their brands on screen.

Today tobacco giants like Philip Morris claim their brands are used in films without their permission. Unless prodded by law enforcement, however, they do not complain to studios. They have also sent public signals to Hollywood that they won’t pursue trademark enforcement action. Meanwhile, Marlboro, the most common brand on screen, continues to be the dominant brand kids smoke.

Brand appearances in movies are valuable to tobacco companies eager to attract new smokers to "starter” brands like Marlboro and Camel. On-screen brands may also play a role in battles for market share in Eastern Europe and Asia. In addition, films showing tobacco brands are significantly more likely to include smoking scenes in their TV ad campaigns, undermining America’s four-decade old ban on tobacco commercials.

Tobacco control experts emphasize that any smoking on screen, branded or unbranded, has a powerful recruitment effect. Since 1999, about 15 percent of movies with smoking have displayed an actual brand: 9 percent of youth-rated films with smoking and 24 percent of R-rated movies with smoking. Philip Morris and BAT, the companies with the largest market share, benefit the most when Hollywood shows smoking in the films that adolescents see most — even if their brands show up in a minority of films.

Tobacco brand display in top-grossing movies (1990-2009)
Year	Title	Rating	Company	Actor	Brand
2009	International, The	R	Sony	Groges Bigot Ian Burfield	Marlboro
2009	Nortorious	R	News Corp.	Mark John Jeffries	Newport
2009	My Bloody Valentine	R	Lionsgate	Betsy Rue	Marlboro
2009	Taken	PG-13	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
2009	A Perfect Getaway	R	GE	Timothy Olyphant	Marlboro Lights
2009	He's Just Not That Into You	PG-13	Time Warner	Ben Affleck	American Spirit, Marlboro
2009	The Hurt Locker	R	Summit	Jeremy Renner	Marlboro
2008	Tropic Thunder	R	DreamWorks	Ben Stiller	Marlboro
2008	Slumdog Millionaire	R	News Corp.	Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail	Marlboro
2008	Street Kings	R	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
2008	My Best Friend's Girl	R	Lionsgate	-	Marlboro
2008	Smart People	R	Disney	Sarah Jessica Parker	Marlboro Light
2008	Pride and Glory	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
2008	The Visitor	PG-13	Anchor Bay	-	Marlboro
2008	Definitely, Maybe	PG-13	GE	Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher	Marlboro, American Spirit (lookalikes)
2008	Cloverfield	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro
2008	Miracle at St. Anna	R	Disney	Michael Ealy, Laz Alonzo	Camel
2008	Leatherheads	R	GE	John Krasinski	Beech Nut
2007	Alpha Dog	R	GE	Bruce Willis	Parliament
2007	Black Snake Moan	R	Viacom	Christina Ricci (Marlboro Lights)	Marlboro Lights, Kool
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	R	GE	John Slattery	Marlboro
2007	Feel the Noise	PG-13	Sony	-	Marlboro, Doral
2007	Ghost Rider	PG-13	Sony	Brett Cullen	Marlboro, Lucky Strike
2007	Grindhouse	R	Weinstein	Vaness Farlito (Winston Light)	Winston Light, Kool
2007	Mist, The	R	Sony	-	Marlboro
2007	Superbad	R	Sony	-	Kool, Camel
2006	All the King's Men	PG-13	Sony	Jude Law	Chesterfield
2006	ATL	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
2006	Black Dahlia, The	R	GE	-	Old Gold
2006	Bobby	R	Sony	Demi Moore	Marlboro
2006	Departed, The	R	Time Warner	Patrick Coppola (Newport), Leonardo Dicaprio (Marlboro)	Newport, Marlboro
2006	Employee of the Month	PG-13	Lionsgate	-	Marlboro
2006	Freedomland	R	Sony	-	Newport
2006	Matador, The	R	Disney	Pierce Brosnan	Monte Carlo
2006	Night Listener, The	R	Disney	-	Marlboro
2006	Thank You for Smoking	R	News Corp.	-	Marlboro, Kool
2005	Bad News Bears	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro
2005	Beauty Shop	PG-13	Sony	-	Kool
2005	Constant Gardiner, The	R	General Electric	Donald Sumpter	Marlboro
2005	Constantine	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
2005	Derailed	R	Weinstein Company	Clive Owen Vincent Cassel	Camel
2005	Domino	R	Time Warner	Keira Knightly	Marlboro
2005	Everything is Illuminated	PG-13	Time Warner	Elijah Wood	Marlboro
2005	Fun with Dick and Jane	PG-13	Sony	-	Camel
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	R	Viacom	-	Winston
2005	Good Night, and Good Luck	PG	Time Warner	-	Kent
2005	History of Violence, A	R	Time Warner	-	Winston
2005	Hustle and Flow	R	Viacom	Terrence Howard	Marlboro
2005	Ice Harvest, The	R	GE	-	Doral
2005	Into the Blue	PG-13	News Corp.	Scott Caan	Cohiba (cigars)
2005	Jacket, The	R	Time Warner	Keira Knightley (Winston) Adrien Brody (Lucky Strike, Kool)	Winston, Lucky Strike, Kool
2005	King's Ransom	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Newport King 100s
2005	Lord of War	R	Lionsgate	-	Kool
2005	Longest Yard	PG-13	Viacom	Chris Rock	Marlboro
2005	North Country	R	Time Warner	Thomas Curtis	Carnival
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	PG-13	Sony	-	Lucky Strike
2005	Prime	PG-13	GE	-	Newport
2005	Red-Eye	PG-13	Viacom	-	Monte Cristo (cigars)
2005	Sideways	R	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
2005	Two for the Money	R	GE	-	Marlboro
2005	Unleashed	R	GE	-	Marlboro
2005	Weather Man, The	R	Viacom	-	Marlboro
2004	Alfie	R	Viacom	Jude Law	Marlboro
2004	Chronicles of Riddick, The	PG-13	GE	-	Kool
2004	Closer	R	Sony	Natalie Portman	Marlboro
2004	Collateral	R	Viacom/DreamWorks	-	Kool, GPC, Marlboro
2004	Godsend	PG-13	Lionsgate	-	Merit Lights
2004	Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle	R	Time Warner	-	Roger, Marlboro
2004	My Baby's Daddy	PG-13	Disney	-	Marlboro, Camel, Kool
2004	Notebook, The	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Chesterfield
2004	Secret Window	PG-13	Sony	Johnny Depp (L&M) John Turturro (Pall Mall)	L&M, Pall Mall
2004	Team America	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro
2004	Twisted	R	Viacom	Samuel L. Jackson	Marlboro
2003	Secondhand Lions	PG	Time Warner	-	Beechnut
2003	Runaway Jury	PG-13	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
2003	Mona Lisa Smile	PG-13	Sony	-	Camel
2003	Uptown Girls	PG-13	Sony	Brittany Murphy	American Spirit
2003	Matchstick Men	PG-13	Time Warner	Nicholas Cage	Tareyton
2003	The Fighting Temptations	PG-13	Viacom	Cuba Gooding, Jr.	Montecristo
2003	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	R	Disney	Sam Rockwell	Marlboro
2003	Old School	R	DreamWorks	-	Marlboro
2003	Confidence	R	Lions Gate	Andy Garcia	Marlboro
2003	The Real Cancun	R	News Corp.	-	Camel
2003	Basic	R	Sony	John Travolta	Skoal
2003	Mystic River	R	Time Warner	Tim Robbins	Marlboro, Winston, Newport, Kool, Basic, Doral
2003	Terminator 3	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro, Winston, Camel
2003	Better Luck Tomorrow	R	Viacom	-	Marlboro
2002	The Ring	PG-13	DreamWorks	-	Camel
2002	The Bourne Identity	PG-13	GE (Universal)	-	Marlboro
2002	Life or Something Like It	PG-13	News Corp.	Angelina Jolie	Camel
2002	Men in Black II	PG-13	Sony	Space Aliens	Marlboro
2002	The Sum of All Fears	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro, Camel
2002	In the Bedroom	R	Disney	Sissy Spacek	Marlboro
2002	Cabin Fever	R	Lions Gate	James DeBello	Marlboro
2002	Lovely and Amazing	R	Lions Gate	Emily Mortimer	Marlboro
2002	Hart's War	R	Sony	-	Lucky Strike, Camel
2002	City by the Sea	R	Time Warner	James Franco	Newport
2002	Femme Fatale	R	Time Warner	Antonio Banderas (Marlboro) Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (Winston, Camel)	Marlboro, Winston, Camel
2001	A Beautiful Mind	PG-13	GE (Universal)	Russell Crowe	Winston
2001	Birthday Girl	R	Disney	-	Marlboro
2001	High Heels and Low Lifes	R	Disney	-	Parliament
2001	The Royal Tenenbaums	R	Disney	-	Sweet Aftons
2001	Spy Game	R	GE (Universal)	-	Marlboro
2001	Traffic	R	GE (Universal)	-	Marlboro
2001	Baby Boy	R	Sony	-	Kool
2001	Black Hawk Down	R	Sony	-	Camel
2001	Blow	R	Time Warner	-	Camel
2001	Knockaround Guys	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
2001	Swordfish	R	Time Warner	-	Winston
2001	Training Day	R	Time Warner	-	Kool
2001	Along Came a Spider	R	Viacom	Monica Potter	Marlboro
2000	Gone in Sixty Seconds	PG-13	Disney	-	Marlboro
2000	Big Momma's House	PG-13	News Corp.	-	Virginia Slims
2000	The Perfect Storm	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
2000	Eye of the Beholder	R	Destination	Ashley Judd Genevieve Bujold Ewan McGregor	Gitanes
2000	The Ninth Gate	R	Lions Gate	Johnny Depp	Lucky Strike
2000	How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog	R	Millennium	-	Players
2000	Me, Myself & Irene	R	News Corp.	Jim Carrey	Marlboro
2000	Crush	R	Sony	-	Marlboro
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	R	Disney	Nicholas Cage Particia Arquette	Marlboro
1999	Summer of Sam	R	Disney	John Leguizamo Michael Rispoli Adrien Brody Saverio Guerra Brian Tarantina	Marlboro
1999	Girl, Interrupted	R	Sony	Angelina Jolie (Marlboro, Gauloises) Jeffrey Tambor (Marlboro) Clea DuVale (Marlboro) Winona Rider (Gauloises)	Marlboro, Gauloises
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1998	Sliding Doors	PG-13	Disney	Gwyneth Paltrow	Marlboro
1998	Can't Hardly Wait	PG-13	Sony	Jenna Elfman	Marlboro
1998	Godzilla	PG-13	Sony	-	Marlboro
1998	Celebrity	R	Disney	Winona Ryder	Marlboro
1998	Rounders	R	Disney	Famke Janssen	Marlboro
1998	Great Expectations	R	News Corp.	Ethan Hawke Gwyneth Paltrow	Kool
1998	Snake Eyes	R	Viacom	Nicholas Cage	Marlboro
1998	Twilight	R	Viacom	Paul Newman Susan Sarandon	Marlboro
1997	Vegas Vacation	PG	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1997	Titanic	PG-13	News Corp.	Barry Jason	Marlboro
1997	Volcano	PG-13	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
1997	Men in Black	PG-13	Sony	Space Aliens	Marlboro
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	PG-13	Sony	Julia Roberts	Marlboro
1997	In & Out	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro
1997	Copland	R	Disney	-	Marlboro
1997	The Jackal	R	GE (Universal)	-	Marlboro
1997	The Devil's Advocate	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1996	One Fine Day	PG	News Corp.	-	Marlboro
1996	First Wives Club	PG	Viacom	Goldie Hawn	Marlboro
1996	Mission Impossible	PG-13	Viacom	-	Dunhill
1996	Ransom	R	Disney	Evan Handler	Marlboro
1996	Striptease	R	Sony	-	Marlboro
1996	Eraser	R	Time Warner	James Caan	Marlboro
1996	Sleepers	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1995	Bridges of Madison County	PG-13	Time Warner	Clint Eastwood	Camel
1995	Apollo 13	PG	GE (Universal)	Ed Harris	Chesterfield, Camel
1995	The Net	PG-13	Sony	-	Newport
1995	Casino	R	GE (Universal)	-	Marlboro
1995	Ballistic	R	Imperial	Antonio Banderas	Marlboro
1995	Get Shorty	R	Sony (MGM)	Martin Ferrero Jacob Vargas Gene Hackman	Marlboro
1995	Under Siege 2	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1994	Angels in the Outfield	PG	Disney	-	Marlboro
1994	It Could Happen To You	PG	Sony	-	Marlboro
1994	Quiz Show	PG-13	Disney	-	Camel
1994	The Shadow	PG-13	GE (Universal)	-	Llama
1994	The Chase	PG-13	News Corp.	Charlie Sheen	Marlboro
1994	Stargate	PG-13	Sony (MGM)	Alexis Cruz	Marlboro
1994	Forrest Gump	PG-13	Viacom	-	Marlboro
1994	A Low Down Dirty Shame	R	Disney	-	Kool
1994	True Lies	R	News Corp.	--	Lucky Strike
1994	Interview With a Vampire	R	Time Warner	Charlie Sheen	Marlboro
1994	Natural Born Killers	R	Time Warner	Juliette Lewis Tom Sizemore	Marlboro
1994	The Specialist	R	Time Warner	-	Lucky Strike
1993	Sandlot	PG	News Corp.	-	Big Chief
1993	A Perfect World	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Lucky Strike
1993	Loaded Weapon	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1993	Made in America	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1993	Menace II Society	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1993	The Firm	R	Viacom	-	Marlboro
1992	Malcolm X	PG-13	Time Warner	-	Lucky Strike
1992	The Hand That Rocks the Cradle	R	Disney	Julianne Moore Matt McCoy	Marlboro
1992	Basic Instinct	R	Lions Gate	-	Marlboro Light
1992	Husbands and Wives	R	Sony	Mia Farrow	Marlboro
1992	Final Analysis	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1992	Patriot Games	R	Viacom	-	Camel
1991	My Girl	PG	Sony	-	Salem
1991	City Slickers	PG-13	Sony (MGM)	-	Red Man
1991	Regarding Henry	PG-13	Viacom	-	Merits
1991	Dying Young	R	News Corp.	-	Camel
1991	Boyz N the Hood	R	Sony	-	Benson & Hedges
1991	Bugsy	R	Sony	-	Chesterfield
1991	Double Impact	R	Sony	-	Marlboro
1991	Terminator 2	R	Sony	Linda Hamilton Xander Berkeley	Marlboro
1991	Jungle Fever	R	Sony (MGM)	-	Merit
1991	JFK	R	Time Warner	-	Marlboro
1991	The Last Boy Scout	R	Time Warner	Bruce Willis	Marlboro
1991	Dead Again	R	Viacom	-	Marlboro, Winston
1990	Tremors	PG-13	GE (Universal)	Kevin Bacon Fred Ward	Marlboro
Sources: scenesmoking.org for brand info, IMDbPro.com for production details. A number of studios have merged since 1999; the names used in this table reflect the surviving entities, which commonly inherit the film rights held by the acquired company. (Updated August 2009)