California makes some terrific anti-smoking ads. Good thing, because DVD viewers will be seeing a lot of them.
The major Hollywood studios, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the showbiz nannies at the Entertainment Industry Foundation just announced an agreement that will place the state's PSAs on all DVD movies that include scenes of smoking and are rated G, PG, or PG-13.
I just watched the opening of the "21" DVD, which comes out in a week. After a Blu-ray promo, there's a zippy PSA named "Idols," in which a cowboy, rapper and flapper girl strut for tobacco companies, only to be rebutted by a spooky lung cancer patient in a wheelchair. Great spot.
Let's expand the concept. If there's drinking in the movie, surely there's a need to place a warning. Those pirates of the Caribbean love their grog, after all. Young buccaneers just might get the wrong idea. Alcohol serves up far more misery in this world than smoking.
Cartoon villains in "101 Dalmatians" and "Ratatouille" abuse animals. Horrid example for kids. Let's head off that hateful behavior as well.
Plenty of references to drug use can be found in PG-13 movies. Another slick video warning will help.
Why not. The home video industry has lost all shyness about using the opening minutes of a disc as a promotional dumping ground. Lately, every other DVD seems to have a noisy extended pitch for the Blu-ray format. Even if you're watching in Blu-ray.
Most of us recall the obnoxious MTV-like spot about software piracy that opened Fox DVDs for a couple of years. The one with the blaring siren.
Then there are the movie trailers, love them or hate them. (Or both.) DVD labels increasingly disable the advance-to-main-menu command, forcing viewers to chapter-skip trailer by trailer. I hit one the other night where fast-forward was the sole way of escaping the cavalcade of movie ads. There are more trailers than ever.
Now comes a swarm of mandated PSAs. For an entire class of films. For one social ill.
To be fair, the industry was pressured by a coalition of 40-some states to include the spots on DVDs. "We hope that these ads, placed in DVDs and videos, will help deter young people from ever taking up this deadly habit," New York's attorney general said a few years ago. (He was running for governor.)
The group pointed out that "public service announcements already appear on (DVDs) for many worthwhile causes and organizations." How true. Just like late-night TV.
Instead of this screwy policy, studios should make a case-by-case decision to include a PSA (anti-smoking, alcohol, drugs) or a more substantial piece of communication on a problematic title that skews young. No, that doesn't mean every PG-13 movie with characters who smoke.
And the video industry should take a good look at how much unwelcome advertising marches in front of the expensive DVD movies that consumers bring into their homes.
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I can't decide which are more annoying - the anti-smoking ones, or those damn "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR" anti-piracy notices that are ALWAYS UNSKIPPABLE. The hyperbole is typical of PSAs ("oh, well, I was about to download a movie on The Google, but now that I know it's morally equivalent to stealing at $20,000 car, I really mustn't!"). You know what, government, we can take care of ourselves. No, really.
Posted by: Liz | July 13, 2008 at 08:12 PM