Films not helpful to antitobacco campaign

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The national antitobacco campaign, which has enlisted the help of several film artists to get its message across to the public, is facing a daunting task due to the fact that smoking appears to be deeply rooted in the film industry and the community.

A recent finding from a pulmonologist at the Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta has painted a gloomy picture of the prospects for the campaign here.

Dr. Tjandra Yoga Aditama watched six local TV channels from May 29 to June 2 and found that 14 of the current top-rated TV sinetron (serial dramas), contained smoking scenes, while only five others did not.

About 70 serial dramas are aired by state and private TV stations every week.

Tjandra discovered that more than half of the smoking scenes had leading artists playing influential roles, such as fathers, entrepreneurs, call girls or teachers.

Concerned about the rising number of young smokers, this year the World Health Organization picked "Tobacco-Free Film and Tobacco-Free Fashion, Action!" as the theme for the World No Tobacco Day, which fell on May 31.

The film and fashion industries are believed to have contributed to the growing number of young smokers.

However, the chairman of the Indonesian TV artists guild, Anwar Fuady, refuted claims that drama serials promote the use of tobacco among young members of the audience.

"Back in my village many years ago, when most people did not own televisions, a lot of youths started smoking at a young age," he said.

Anwar, who has quit smoking, said his organization supported the antitobacco campaign.

"I urge my colleagues to stop smoking, although it is hard to expect that they'll listen to me," he said.

Before the launch of the global campaign against tobacco, the organization adopted an unwritten ruling that stipulated smoking scenes were to be given to those playing antagonists.

"Actors cast as the good guy usually don't do smoking scenes as viewers look up to them," he said.

Noted film producer Mira Lesmana also rejected claims that film artists who did smoking scenes had encouraged teenagers to smoke.

"The allegation comes from the same people who say that violent movies increase the number of rapes. It seems to me that movies are always being made the scapegoat," she told The Jakarta Post.

Mira, who is a smoker, said advertising, sponsorship and promotion offers from tobacco companies could be very tempting for those working in the entertainment industry.

"The tobacco industry has a large promotion budget," she said. One of her movies, Kuldesak, was sponsored by a cigarette company.

"But whatever the product, whether it is cigarettes or something else, I prefer not to use it in my movie, but to keep it separate for promotion purposes only," said Mira, who is married to actor Mathias Muchus.

A poll conducted by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) revealed that most people did not think that smoking scenes in film were necessary. Only one respondent commented that they would find it strange if none of the actors smoked.

Mira said she could not guarantee if any of her upcoming movies would be tobacco-free.

"It would depend on the characters and what is demanded for the scene. If the character is a smoker, then of course the actor should smoke to emphasize his character," she said.

However, for PG-rated movies, Mira said she would try her best to avoid characters who smoke in order not to influence younger members of the audience to take up the habit.

Two of Mira's box-office hits include Petualangan Sherina (Sherina's Adventure) and Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (What's up with Love?).

Elsewhere, 83 percent of the movies from Hollywood and 76.5 percent of the movies from Bollywood still include scenes with actors and actresses smoking. Some box-office releases, such as X2, The In-Laws and Anger Management included numerous scenes where the actors and actresses were smoking.

A recent discussion at John Hopkins University, organized together with the Coalition for Health Indonesia, concluded that it was hard to free films from scenes containing smoking.

YLKI chairwoman Indah Suksmaningsih said she would not expect too much for an ideal situation.

"For now I can only hope that there will a separate location allocated for smokers. That would help cut down on the amount of secondhand smoke," she said.

Another speaker, the chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission VII for population and welfare, Posma Tobing, shared Indah's view.

"Public places, public transportation, as well as those locations serving the public should have separate facilities for smokers," he said.