After the release of Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things 3’, a study put together by The Truth Initiative, a nonprofit public health organisation working to eliminate tobacco use has shown that the streaming platform leads the chat of broadcast, streaming and cable services, which depict tobacco use in their running shows.
The study again proved that Netflix has taken over the No.1 spot for the second consecutive year with nearly triple the number of tobacco instances (866) in year two compared to the (299) instances in year one. “For both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, episodic programming on Netflix had greater total number of tobacco depictions than programmes aired on broadcast or cable TV, with ‘Stranger Things’ continuing to show the most tobacco overall. Researchers found that 100 percent of ‘Stranger things’ episodes coded included tobacco,” the report read.
Responding positively to the gathered findings of Truth Initiatives, Netflix has issued a statement declaring their commitment to cut off depictions of tobacco use on rated shows and movies. A Netflix spokesperson told CNN, “Going forward, all new projects that we commission with ratings of TV-14 or below for series or PG-13 or below for films, will be smoking and cigarette free, except for reasons of historical or factual accuracy. Netflix strongly supports artistic expression. We also recognise that smoking is harmful and when portrayed positively on screen can adversely influence young people.”
Aside Netflix, Amazon’s Emmy winning series ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ and Hulu’s ‘Gap Year’ have also been called out for the tobacco use broadcast. Both media houses running the mentioned shows are yet to release a statement in relation to study findings despite not included in the study run by Truth Initiative.
