Alcohol, tobacco staples
of movies, music, study finds
BY JAMES ROBINSON
Despite mounting political
pressure on the entertainment industry, tobacco and
alcohol use is pervasive in the movies and in music most
popular among young people, according to a study led by
Donald F. Roberts, the Thomas More Storke Professor of
Communication.
The study is being
released in Washington today by the Office of National
Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration.
The extent of alcohol and
tobacco use "was the single most striking
finding," Roberts said. "This is a world where
alcohol and tobacco is similar to the air we breathe.
It's all around us all the time," he said.
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The study found that 98
percent of movies and 27 percent of songs had depictions
of alcohol, tobacco or illicit drug use.
"There was probably
less portrayal of illicit drug use than I expected, but a
great deal more of tobacco and alcohol than I
expected," Roberts said. The study found that
illegal drugs appeared in 22 percent of movies and 18
percent of songs studied.
The study appears at a
time of renewed interest in the impact of music and
movies on young people, especially given last week's
killings at a Colorado high school. Roberts said that it
was the most comprehensive study yet of substance use in
movies and the only one he knew of that tracked such
references in popular music.
"These findings
underscore the potential for the entertainment industry
to play a key role in protecting our kids from the
dangers of drugs through realistic depiction
portraying illicit drug use, and all substance abuse, as
unglamorous, dangerous and socially unacceptable,"
the nation's drug "czar," Barry R. McCaffrey of
the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a
statement.
The study was written by
Roberts; Lisa Henriksen, a research associate with the
Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention; and
Peter G. Christenson, professor of communication at Lewis
and Clark College.
It examined 200 of the
most popular movie rentals and 1,000 of the most popular
songs from 1996 and 1997. The movie samples came from
rankings of the Video Software Dealers Association and
the music samples came from rankings compiled by Billboard,
Radio and Records magazine and the College Music
Journal.
Five genres of music were
studied: country western, alternative rock, top-40, rap
and heavy metal.
"It's almost
impossible to have a meal in a Hollywood movie without
alcohol," Roberts said. Even in Toy Story, a
movie that did not show alcohol consumption per se, there
was nevertheless a comic scene showing a character
pretending to be drunk, he said.
"The assumption is
that the humor of drunkenness is understood even by the
very young," Roberts said.
But most often, he said,
the consequences of smoking and drinking are not
portrayed. And their use in the movies often seems
unnecessary, he added.
"There's frequently a
reliance on alcohol and cigarettes as stage business
as something the actor can do to stay busy," he
said. "Often there are scenes where the character
takes a drink or uses tobacco and there's absolutely no
reason it's just something to do."
Roberts said he
understands the need for the use of such substances for
character development. But in a film such as Grosse
Point Blank, he said one of the main characters never
smoked a cigarette until the very last scene.
"I think a lot of
this is just unconscious," he said, adding he hoped
the findings would "sensitize directors and actors
to what's going on."
There is less depiction of
illegal drug use in movies than he expected, Roberts
said. Such drugs were portrayed in 22 percent of the
films studied. Of the movies showing such drugs,
marijuana appeared most frequently (51 percent), followed
by powder cocaine (33 percent), hallucinogens, heroin or
other opiates (12 percent each) and crack cocaine (2
percent).
On the positive side,
Roberts said the study found negative statements about
substance use in 31 percent of the films. The statements
advocated abstinence or criticized drinking, smoking or
using drugs.
Of the 1,000 songs
studied, 27 percent had a direct reference to alcohol,
tobacco or illicit drugs. Substance use was the central
theme of only 2 percent of the songs studied, however.
Illicit drugs appeared in
18 percent of the songs, with marijuana appearing in 63
percent of the 182 songs that had an illicit drug
reference. Crack cocaine appeared in 15 percent of those
182 songs, powder cocaine in 10 percent, hallucinogens in
4 percent and heroin or other opiates in 4 percent.
Roberts said the most
striking finding in the music category was the relative
absence of substance use in both country and western and
heavy metal music.
Of rap songs studied,
however, references to illicit drugs appeared in 63
percent, in contrast to 11 percent of top 40 and
alternative rock songs and 9 percent of heavy metal
songs. Only one of the 212 country western songs had such
a reference.
Similarly, alcohol
references were most frequent in rap songs (47 percent),
while least frequent in heavy metal (4 percent).
Brand-name references were most frequent in rap songs,
especially high-end liquor brands such as Remy Martin,
Hennessy and Dom Perignon. SR
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