Q and A: Martin Dockrell

Published on Monday 7 July 2008 22:15

Martin Dockrell is campaigns manager for Action on Smoking and Health. We spoke to him about the British Medical Association (BMA) recommendations for the portrayal of smoking to be taken into account when classifying films.

What else can be done to stop young people seeing smoking as cool?

I think a much better recommendation from the BMA is to sell cigarettes in plain packets. This gets rid of the red and silver and gold packaging but also gets rid of the "mild" and "light" brands, which is like saying you are just as dead whether you shoot yourself with five bullets or six bullets.

What do you think of media portrayals of smoking in general?

Smoking is not portrayed in a very realistic way in the movies – what you tend to get is depictions of smokers being healthy and wealthy when the truth is that smokers tend to be in bad health and be economically poor.

Although you often see actors smoking on the screen, you rarely see the consequences. So while you see someone stub out a cigarette, you do not see them having a heart attack or dying of cancer.

Do we need to introduce legislation to stop magazines and newspapers publishing pictures of celebrities smoking cigarettes?

No, we just need people to act responsibly. We know that images of celebrities smoking encourages the kids who are fans of that person to take up the habit. So editors need to be aware that they are perpetuating the "James Dean effect".

Why is smoking seen as glamorous when it is a filthy habit that can kill?

Because the tobacco industry has invested a huge amount of money in making it look cool. They have paid popular actors to endorse cigarettes when they do not even smoke.

Isn't reclassifying films that portray smoking just another form of censorship?

Making smoking glamorous is misleading people about a public-safety issue. I would censor that.