Netflix criticised for amount of smoking scenes on their shows
The streaming giant had 319 'smoking incidents', meaning any implied use of a tobacco product, more than twice the number in broadcast and cable TV
Netflix has come under fire from an anti-smoking group over its onscreen depiction of tobacco use.
According to a recent study by anti-tobacco watchdog The Truth Initiative, the streaming giant's original programmes feature the highest instances of characters smoking on TV, due partially to the fact that streaming services (also including Hulu and Amazon) don't need to follow the same content restrictions as broadcast television.
The study identified the 14 most popular shows amongst viewers aged 15-24, targeting seven Netflix shows and seven broadcast and cable shows for the 2015-2016 season.
It found Netflix had 319 "smoking incidents", meaning any implied use of a tobacco product, more than twice the number in broadcast and cable TV; Stranger Things topped the list with 182 "smoking incidents", with AMC's The Walking Dead coming in second, with 94 scenes involving tobacco use.
The next four slots all went to Netflix shows: Orange Is the New Black (45), House of Cards (41), Fuller House (22), and docu-series Making a Murderer (20). ABC's Modern Family had 20 depictions, FX's American Horror Story had 15, while Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt had nine.
Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, said in a statement that the rise of VOD services has seen "a pervasive reemergence of smoking across screens that is glamorizing and renormalizing a deadly habit to millions of impressionable young people."
“While streaming entertainment is more popular than ever, we’re glad that smoking is not,” a Netflix spokesperson said to Variety. “We’re interested to find out more about the study.”
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