WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
NICOTINE
ON DEMAND
TOBACCO REMAINS RAMPANT IN THE
YEAR’S MOST POPULAR SHOWS, MOVIES,
AND MUSIC VIDEOS, FUELING THE ONGOING
YOUTH E-CIGARETTE EPIDEMIC
CONTENTS
Executive Summary ..................................................1
Introduction ........................................................3
As streaming soars, popular shows frequently depict tobacco ...............5
Back-to-back tobacco imagery while binge-watching ......................7
Platforms with the most tobacco .......................................9
Tobacco in shows rated appropriate for youth and teens ....................9
Vaping depictions hold steady ........................................10
Tobacco imagery still pervades movies .................................11
Tobacco-laden music videos yield 6 billion YouTube views .................13
Call to Action: We must take action to get tobacco off screens ..............13
Appendix: How researchers selected and analyzed shows .................16
References ........................................................17
Truth Initiative would like to thank Breathe California
for the hours of work that made this report possible.
1
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
NICOTINE ON DEMAND
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Truth Initiative’s fourth annual report looking at tobacco
imagery in entertainment, “While You Were Streaming:
Nicotine on Demand,” finds that as young people watched
more video content than ever before in 2020, pervasive
smoking and vaping imagery lit up their screens. The
report once again analyzes tobacco imagery across the
15 most popular streaming shows among 15- to 24-year-
olds and for the first time includes data on those that
were frequently binge-watched as well as the year’s
chart-topping movies and music videos. Young people
were bombarded with tobacco imagery across these
entertainment sources in 2020, posing a significant threat
given the on-going youth e-cigarette epidemic. According to
the latest CDC data, over 2 million middle and high school
students are using e-cigarettes, and of high school students
who vape, 43% do so on a near daily basis.
Smoking, often portrayed as glamorous and edgy,
remains pervasive onscreen even as a landmark 2020
Truth Initiative study found that exposure to tobacco
imagery through episodic programming can triple a
young person’s odds of starting to vape, building on well-
established research that shows exposure to smoking in
movies causes young people to start using tobacco. The
continued prevalence of tobacco products and images
across screens is an urgent youth public health issue. Our
report finds that:
>
60% of young people’s favorite new releases
featured images of tobacco, including top shows
depicting youth and teen tobacco use such as “The
Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Rick and Morty,” “Big
Mouth,” and “Law & Order SVU.” The top shows
alone are responsible for exposing an estimated
27 million young people to tobacco imagery in
2020, but they are far from the only popular content
featuring tobacco imagery.
>
64% of the top binge-watched shows among young
people included tobacco depictions, including
“The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Umbrella Academy,”
“Shameless,” and “On My Block.”
>
Despite a prior pledge to limit tobacco depictions
in its offerings, Netflix was the top offender based
on its new 2020 season releases and popular
binge-worthy shows like “The Umbrella Academy”
and “The Queen’s Gambit,” which included tobacco
in every episode.
>
38% of top newly released movies in 2020 depicted
tobacco, including 10 youth-rated films such
as the PG-rated “The Personal History of David
Copperfield,” according to an independent external
analysis.
>
23% of the top 2020 Billboard songs featured
smoking and vaping in their music videos, amassing
over 6 billion views on YouTube alone.
The pervasiveness of onscreen tobacco imagery points
to an overall problem with the normalization and
glamorization of smoking and vaping in entertainment
media and pop culture. The entertainment industry
should not be complicit with the tobacco industry in
helping addict a new generation of young people to
nicotine. Truth Initiative urges urgent action to address
the issue, including:
>
Calling on content creators to develop
comprehensive anti-tobacco policies and share
them with the public.
>
Running successful anti-tobacco and anti-vaping
ads before and during shows that feature tobacco
imagery.
>
Certifying that the film industry accepted no
tobacco industry payoffs in exchange for including
tobacco depictions in a show.
>
Providing tax and other incentives only to those
productions that do not contain tobacco use.
>
Expanding education, outreach, and research
efforts to inform the public, parents, directors,
writers, and producers about the importance of
keeping tobacco out of shows.
STREAMING
Truth Initiative’s fourth annual report analyzing
tobacco use in entertainment finds that as
young people watched more video content than
ever before in 2020, pervasive smoking and
vaping imagery lit up their screens, fueling an
ongoing youth e-cigarette epidemic.
WHILE
YOU WERE
64%
of top
binge-watched
shows
60%
of 15-24 year-olds’ top
15 new shows, exposing
an estimated 27 million
young people
38%
of top newly
released
movies
+6B
YouTube views
of top 2020
Billboard song
music videos
tobacco imagery appeared in:
Leading entertainment media continues featuring onscreen
tobacco even as peer-reviewed research shows:
Young people are 3x more likely
to start vaping when exposed to
tobacco imagery in popular
streaming and TV shows
Higher exposure to smoking in
movies makes youth 2x more
likely to use tobacco
3
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
INTRODUCTION
As young people watched more video content than ever before in 2020,
pervasive smoking and vaping imagery lit up their screens. Tobacco use
was rampant in some of the most watched entertainment of the year,
including the most popular and binge-watched shows among 15- to
24-year-olds, as well as this year’s chart-topping movies and music
videos. Smoking, often portrayed as glamorous and edgy, remains
pervasive onscreen even as research warns that exposure to it can
influence young people to start smoking and vaping. Highlighted in last
year’s third annual
While You Were Streaming
report, a landmark 2020
study established a link for the first time between smoking imagery and
e-cigarette use. Published in
Preventive Medicine
, it finds that exposure
to tobacco imagery through episodic programming can triple a young
person’s odds of starting to vape
1
. These data add to the well-established
research that shows exposure to smoking in movies causes young
people to start using tobacco,
2
a conclusion reached almost a decade
ago in a 2012 Surgeon General report. The robust research that links
exposure to onscreen tobacco imagery with youth uptake underscores
the role of entertainment media and pop culture in the ongoing youth
nicotine use crisis. As youth vaping remains at epidemic levels — over
2 million middle and high school students are using e-cigarettes, with
43.6% of high schoolers who vape doing so almost daily
3
— the tobacco
industry continues to innovate and grow the market for nicotine products.
Alongside a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape exploding with new
options, the continued pervasiveness of tobacco products and images
across screens is an urgent youth public health issue.
Four years after our first
While You Were Streaming
report, which since
2018 has sounded the alarm on the pervasive re-normalization of
tobacco imagery in top broadcast and streaming shows, leading shows
continue to depict characters smoking and using other tobacco products.
According to the latest Truth Initiative analysis of tobacco imagery in
popular shows, 60% of young people’s favorite new releases featured
images of tobacco. Because of increased binge-watching of both new
releases and older shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Truth Initiative
researchers also analyzed for the first time top binge-watched shows
among young people, finding that about two-thirds (64%) included
tobacco depictions. Additionally, about a third (30.1%) of 15- to 24-year-
olds surveyed report that they binge-watched “Stranger Things” in the
past year, even though it did not have a new season in 2020. The last
season of “Stranger Things” in 2019 included 721 tobacco incidences,
quadrupling the instances of tobacco imagery in the show’s first season.
Binge-watching is an important behavior to examine because the
research shows that the more tobacco imagery one sees, the more likely
they are to go on to vape.
1
Watching shows in a compressed time may
influence the amount and intensity of exposure.
Tobacco use was
rampant in some of
the most watched
entertainment of the
year, including the most
popular and binge-
watched shows among
15- to 24-year-olds
4
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
Netflix was the top offender for the fourth year in a row, based on its
new 2020 season releases and popular binge-worthy shows, despite
the company’s 2019 announcement that it would eliminate tobacco
in future youth-rated programming (rated TV-14 or below) and that it
plans to cut back on depictions overall. Some of the top shows even
increased the amount of tobacco compared to previous seasons, such
as Netflix’s superhero show “The Umbrella Academy,” which tripled
tobacco instances in its latest season compared to Season 2 and
managed to include tobacco in every episode. Similarly, Netflix hit
“The Queen’s Gambit” depicted tobacco with every episode in its entire
season. Other top shows across platforms featured youth and teens
using tobacco, including some as young as 10, in “The Simpsons,”
“Family Guy,” “Rick and Morty,” “Big Mouth,” “Law & Order SVU,”
“The Queen’s Gambit,” and “Sex Education.”
Streaming is up and continuing to grow, accounting for more than a
quarter (26%) of all time spent on TV in 2021—up from 20% in 2020.
4
The top shows alone are responsible for exposing an estimated
27 million young people to tobacco imagery in 2020,
i
but they are
far from the only streaming content. In addition to new and binge-
worthy shows, this report also looks at top movies and music videos
to provide a fuller picture of onscreen smoking across popular
entertainment media. As new releases were increasingly streamed at
home, more than a third — 38% — of the top newly released movies
of 2020 depicted tobacco, according to an analysis by the independent
research institution NORC at the University of Chicago. These include
10 that are youth-rated, such as the PG-rated “The Personal History of
David Copperfield” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” rated PG-13. In total
there were close to 1,000 incidents of combustible tobacco depictions
in 2020 top movies. Music videos, which Truth Initiative also analyzed
for the first time in this year’s report, are also significant sources
of smoking and vaping exposure on screens. Of the year’s top 2020
Billboard songs, about a quarter — 23% — featured smoking and
vaping in their music videos. Together these videos have amassed
over 6 billion views on YouTube alone.
As new releases
were increasingly
streamed at home,
more than a third
— 38% — of the
top newly released
movies of 2020
depicted tobacco.
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY BIG MOUTH
5
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
Onscreen tobacco imagery — in shows, movies, and music
videos — point to an overall problem with the renormalization and
glamorization of smoking and vaping in entertainment media and
pop culture. What we see requires urgent and ongoing action.
Industry leaders have been made aware of the issue — these past
two years, the National Association of Attorneys General has sent
letters to major U.S. streaming services and to creative guilds
involved in producing and developing programs to urge these
organizations to take action to protect young viewers from tobacco
imagery — and they must do more. Necessary actions include
developing and publishing comprehensive policies that prohibit
the normalization of tobacco, certifying that companies have not
received industry payoffs, and distributing anti-tobacco and anti-
vaping messages. Onscreen tobacco use and imagery are directly
contributing to the youth e-cigarette epidemic and the entertainment
industry should not be complicit with the tobacco industry in helping
addict a new generation of young people to nicotine.
AS STREAMING SOARS, POPULAR SHOWS
FREQUENTLY DEPICT TOBACCO
Streaming, already on the rise, experienced a dramatic increase
with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Viewers increasingly
turned to streaming for entertainment — whether TV, movies, or
music videos — resulting in higher viewership and binge-watching
behavior. Streaming continues its ascent, making up 26% of all
time spent on TV in 2021, a 30% increase from 2020, according
to a report from Nielsen.
4
The overwhelming majority of U.S.
consumers — 82% — subscribe to a paid video streaming service,
with an average of four services per subscriber, according to a
February 2021 survey by Deloitte.
5
Because today’s streaming
services include new releases and libraries of popular shows, there
have never been as many options before to watch — and binge-
watch — both new and old content.
Our latest look at tobacco depictions in popular shows finds that
tobacco continues to pervade episodic streaming programs, with
60% of the 2020 top 15 shows most popular with 15- to 24-year-
olds depicting tobacco. “Family Guy,”
ii
“The Simpsons,” “On My
Block,” “Big Mouth,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “Rick and Morty” top
the list of shows with the most tobacco depictions. [See “How
Researchers Selected and Analyzed Shows” on page 15 for a full
list of shows].
Onscreen tobacco
use and imagery is
directly contributing
to the youth e-cigarette
epidemic and the
entertainment industry
should not be complicit
with the tobacco
industry in helping
addict a new generation
of young people.
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
6
While this marks a lower number of shows with tobacco depictions
compared to last year — 73% of the most popular shows featured
tobacco in 2019 — the rise in streaming and binge-watching raises
concerns that overall exposure to tobacco imagery may be greater.
This concern is compounded by the fact that many young people
are binge-watching both popular new releases and older shows,
especially since the pandemic delayed many new releases that were
scheduled to debut in 2020, driving many people to spend more time
watching older content. As past Truth Initiative research has shown,
the higher the exposure to on-screen tobacco imagery, the greater the
odds of subsequent vaping initiation, a concerning finding in the age of
binge-watching.
1
0 20 40 60 80 100
Riverdale
Law & Order SVU
Criminal Minds
Rick and Morty
Bob's Burgers
On My Block
Big Mouth
The Simpsons
Family Guy
Tobacco Incidences in Top 15 Shows of 2020
100
95
54
54
41
25
9
9
3
FAMILY GUY
THE SIMPSONS
BIG MOUTH
BOB’S BURGERS
7
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
BACK-TO-BACK TOBACCO IMAGERY WHILE BINGE-
WATCHING
This year’s analysis zeroed in on binge-watching — a behavior on the
rise during the COVID-19 pandemic — and finds that tobacco depictions
dominate shows that young people are watching back-to-back. Most top
binge-worthy shows
iii
— 64% — contained tobacco, including “The Queen’s
Gambit,” “The Umbrella Academy,” “Shameless,” “Family Guy,” “The Good
Place,” “On My Block,” and “Big Mouth” as top offenders.
About a third (30.1%) of 15-24-year-olds who were surveyed report that they
binge-watched “Stranger Things” in the past year, even though the popular
Netflix show didn’t have a new season in 2020, according to a recent Truth
Initiative follow-up survey specifically on binge-watching.
iv
The last season
of “Stranger Things” in 2019 included 721 tobacco incidences, quadrupling
the instances of tobacco imagery in the show’s first season and making it
2019’s top tobacco offender.
Among most binge-watched shows, Netflix’s Emmy award-winning chess
drama “The Queen’s Gambit” had the most depictions of tobacco (220) —
even when counting 171 tobacco depictions in one episode in a scene with
a large display of tobacco products as one incident — with every episode
featuring tobacco. Netflix’s superhero series “The Umbrella Academy” also
depicted tobacco in every episode and was often binge-watched among
young people.
The survey on binge-watching also found that “Family Guy” is the most
binge-watched show in 2020, with 30.8% of young people binge-watching
the show in the last year. This distinction, coupled with the fact that “Family
Guy” is the second most popular show with young people and the top
tobacco offender this year, means that the show has an oversized effect
on young people’s exposure to tobacco imagery. Its latest season had the
most tobacco depictions out of top 15 2020 shows, even when counting one
scene with 1000+ instances of cigarette butts as one incident.
ii
“Rick and
Morty,” which also included tobacco depictions, was next in line with 30.3%
of young people reporting they binge-watched the show.
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT RICK AND MORTY
Among most binge-
watched shows,
Netflix’s Emmy award-
winning chess drama
“The Queen’s Gambit”
had the most depictions
of tobacco.
8
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
Young people are also binge-watching shows like “On My Block” and
“Euphoria,” which are both dramas about high school students and
include numerous tobacco instances. The 2019 season of “Euphoria”
contained a total of 312 tobacco depictions with every episode containing
tobacco imagery, and a special episode, the only one released in 2020,
contained 18 instances of tobacco imagery.
0 50 100 150 200
Supernatural
Riverdale
Arrow
Criminal Minds
All American
Lucifer
Euphoria
Rick and Morty
Bobs Burgers
Big Mouth
On My Block
The Good Place
Family Guy
Shameless
The Umbrella Academy
Queens Gambit
Tobacco Incidences in Binge-worthy Shows of 2020
220
205
108
100
66
54
54
41
18
12
10
9
5
3
3
25
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
SHAMELESS
FAMILY GUY
8
9
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
PLATFORMS WITH THE MOST TOBACCO
Netflix remains the worst offender four years in a row based on its new
2020 season releases and popular binge-worthy shows. The streaming
giant achieved this distinction even though it did not have a 2020 season
of “Stranger Things,” which had the most tobacco content of any show
last year. Findings show that Netflix hasn’t made as much progress as
it promised. Following Truth Initiative’s 2019 report, Netflix announced
that it would eliminate tobacco in youth-rated programming (rated TV-14
or below) going forward and that it planned to cut back on depictions
across the board.
6
Some shows featured more tobacco imagery in
recent seasons than before. Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” tripled
tobacco instances since its latest season, up from 65 to 205 instances in
Season 2. “On My Block,” also a Netflix program, went up from 38 to 54
instances from last season to this season.
Based exclusively on the top 15 shows most popular with young people,
Fox had the highest amount of tobacco imagery, with “Family Guy,” “The
Simpsons,” and “Bob’s Burgers” topping the list. These three shows had
a combined 236 tobacco incidences.
TOBACCO IN SHOWS RATED APPROPRIATE FOR
YOUTH AND TEENS
Seven out of eight shows most popular with 15-24-year-olds that
featured tobacco were rated TV-14 or below. These shows, including
“Family Guy,” “Riverdale,” “The Simpsons,” and “Bob’s Burgers,” are
deemed unsuitable for children under age 14, which still exposes young
people under 21, the legal age to purchase tobacco, to pervasive tobacco
use on screens.
In addition to including tobacco use in shows rated appropriate for teens,
top shows also featured teens using tobacco. Teenagers between 13-17
years old are depicted using tobacco in “Family Guy,” “Rick and Morty,”
“Big Mouth,” “Law & Order SVU,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” and “Sex
Education.” On “The Simpsons,” 10-year-old Nelson Muntz smokes a
pipe on a playground around other children.
Streaming shows rated for the youngest audiences made some progress
when compared to last year. Shows that were rated TV-PG or TV-G in
2019 had a total of 1,156 incidences of tobacco, while shows in 2020 that
were rated TV-PG or TV-G had a total of 156 incidences of tobacco. While
it is important to eliminate tobacco in youth-rated programs, it isn’t a
sufficient area of focus since young people commonly have access to
content of many different ratings.
Of 114 total episodes with tobacco,
only one could be classified as anti-
smoking. Half were pro-smoking,
meaning coders who reviewed
the shows noted that tobacco was
portrayed in ways that associated the
products with themes like wealth,
power, success, fun, harmlessness,
rebellion, or glamor. The remainder
of instances could not be categorized
as positive or negative – for example,
scenes of cigarette butts in an ash
tray.
Some shows, such as “The Queen’s
Gambit,” appear to depict tobacco as
something characters turn to when
under stress. This characterization
of tobacco taps into a common
misconception that nicotine is a
stress-reliever, when in fact nicotine
can worsen anxiety symptoms and
amplify feelings of depression. (For
more on the connection between
nicotine and mental health, see the
Truth Initiative report “Colliding
Crises: Youth Mental Health and
Nicotine Use.”)
Glamorizing
and normalizing
tobacco
10
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
VAPING DEPICTIONS HOLD STEADY
Vaping depictions remained low in shows popular with young people in
2020 — 1.8% of total tobacco depictions were of e-cigarettes, compared
to 1.3% in 2019. The most popular shows that featured vaping were “Big
Mouth,” “Law & Order SVU” and “Family Guy.” “Lucifer” was a binge-
worthy show that included e-cigarettes, and “Shameless,” “NCIS LA,”
and “Big Mouth” were shows in the top 50 most popular shows that
feature e-cigarettes.
Even while most on-screen depictions still feature cigarettes and
smoking, the behavior it fuels among young people is toward
e-cigarettes. This result makes sense given that e-cigarettes are by
far the most commonly used tobacco product among young people.
Researchers say young people may be imitating the behavior of smoking,
but with the more popular product among their generation.
1
Some shows reduced or altogether eliminated tobacco imagery
on screens. Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” and “Fuller House” no
longer have tobacco depictions at all, and shows like “Big Mouth,”
“Shameless,” and “Lucifer” decreased the number of tobacco
depictions and episodes featuring tobacco. The film “Cruella”
(PG-13), which aired in theaters and on Disney+ in May 2021,
depicted the infamous villain from 101 Dalmatians without her
iconic cigarette — a move in line with Disney’s pledge to remove
cigarette depictions from youth-rated movies. The film “In the
Heights,” which was released into theaters on June 10, 2021 and
for 30 days thereafter on HBO Max, did not contain hookah due to
creators’ concerns that such use could bump the movie’s PG-13
rating up to an R.
Some positive signs
LAW & ORDER SVU SHAMELESS
Researchers say
young people may be
imitating the behavior
of smoking, but with
the more popular
product among their
generation.
11
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
TOBACCO IMAGERY STILL PERVADES MOVIES
Tobacco depictions aren’t just limited to series — they continue to
crop up in the most popular movies as well. Many previous studies
have clearly linked tobacco depictions in movies with youth smoking,
prompting the Surgeon General to issue a report in 2012 stating
conclusively that exposure to onscreen smoking in movies causes
young people to start smoking. A new report by the NORC at the
University of Chicago finds that tobacco depictions in movies remain
a pervasive problem.
In 2020, 38% (27 out of 71) of top newly released movies included
tobacco depictions, including 10 movies that were rated appropriate
for youth audiences. Amazon’s PG-rated movie “The Personal
History of David Copperfield” included 13 total tobacco incidents,
all images of cigars and pipes. The remaining 9 out of 10 youth-
rated movies that included tobacco were rated PG-13, like Amazon’s
“Words on Bathroom Walls” with 35 instances of cigars depicted and
the independent animated movie, “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising”
with 22 instances of cigars. Cigars were the most common tobacco
product shown in youth-rated films, according to the report.
The 10 movies containing tobacco rated PG-13 or under are:
>
Words on Bathroom Walls
>
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising
>
The Personal History of David Copperfield
>
Impractical Jokers: The movie
>
Wonder Woman 1984
>
Just Mercy
>
The Broken Hearts Gallery
>
Bloodshot
>
Bill & Ted Face the Music
>
Iron Mask
Beyond tobacco depictions in PG movies, many of the top offenders
included movies that appeal to youth, such as “Wonder Woman
1984,” as well as Oscar-winning movies like “Promising Young
Woman” and “Nomadland.” In total there were close to 1,000
incidents of combustible tobacco depictions in 2020 top movies.
Cigarettes were the most common combustible tobacco product
in all films. The top movies that featured tobacco imagery were
the R-rated movies “Capone,” “The Hunt,” “1917,” “The Outpost,”
In 2020, 38% (27 out of 71)
of top movies included
tobacco depictions,
including 10 movies that
were rated appropriate
for youth audiences.
12
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
and “The Grudge.” Amazon’s fictional movie “Antebellum” (R) was the
only one to include a depiction of e-cigarettes. Although top movies
containing tobacco were rated R, ratings may no longer serve as
effective tools to protect younger viewers from tobacco imagery given
that the pandemic drove many movie releases straight to streaming,
avoiding the age-gating provided by movie theaters.
Top Newly Released 2020 Movies with Tobacco Incidents
Credit: NORC
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Antebellum
Iron Mask
Greed
Project Power
Bill & Ted Face The Music
Bloodshot
The Broken Hearts Gallery
Just Mercy
Wonder Woman 1984
Impractical Jokers: The Movie
Bad Boys For Life
The Way Back
Promising Young Woman
Birds of Prey
Extraction
The Personal History
of David Copperfield
The Rhythm Section
Nomadland
My Hero Academia:
Heroes Rising
The Gentlemen
Words On Bathroom Walls
Cut Throat City
The Grudge
The Outpost
1917
The Hunt
Capone
319
202
76
56
49
47
35
32
22
16
16
13
13
11
10
10
10
9
6
6
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
Although top movies
containing tobacco were
rated R, ratings may
no longer serve as
effective tools to protect
younger viewers from
tobacco imagery.
13
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
TOBACCO-LADEN MUSIC VIDEOS YIELD 6 BILLION
YOUTUBE VIEWS
Music videos, another major pop culture influence, prove to be
common sources of tobacco imagery. An analysis of the top 2020
Billboard songs finds that 23% of the songs had tobacco in their
music videos, with a large proportion of the tobacco incidences
featured in R&B/Hip-Hop videos. Videos with the most amount of
tobacco depictions include: “Bandit” by JuiceWRLD, “Party Girl” by
StaySolidRocky, “My Oh My” by Camila Cabello, and “Heartless” by
The Weeknd. Cigarettes were the most common (44.9%) tobacco
product depicted although nearly as much (39.8%) tobacco use was
“unclear,” meaning coders were unable to determine product type,
including whether or not the product depicted was marijuana or a
cigar. Several music videos in the top 2020 also included instances of
e-cigarette imagery.
These music videos with tobacco imagery garnered more than 6
billion views on YouTube alone. While we cannot determine the age
of individual viewers, the nature of music video virality among young
people suggests that, at a minimum, these videos had significant
youth views. And the nature of music videos, which are short and
often watched on phones, means that young people are likely
absorbing tobacco imagery without parental oversight or knowledge.
WE MUST TAKE ACTION TO GET TOBACCO OFF
SCREENS
Onscreen tobacco is directly contributing to the youth e-cigarette
epidemic, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
states remains a serious public health threat. The rapidly evolving
media landscape has rendered previous restrictions designed to
limit young people’s exposure to tobacco, such as a 1998 prohibition
on paid tobacco product placements in movies and broadcast TV
programming, increasingly irrelevant.
Media companies have taken some steps in recent years aimed
at reducing tobacco imagery on screen, but they must do more.
Following the publication of our 2019 report, Netflix announced
that it would eliminate tobacco in youth-rated programming, cut
back on depictions across the board, and added a smoking warning
label at the beginning of certain programs. These moves, however,
aren’t nearly enough. The company’s pledge has many loopholes
and inconsistencies, including a caveat for creative vision and an
exemption for existing shows, and a formal policy remains to be seen.
An analysis of the top
2020 Billboard songs finds
that 23% of the songs
had tobacco in their
music videos.
14
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
In 2019, the National Association of Attorneys General expressed
concerns about tobacco imagery in streaming content and sent letters
to major U.S. streaming services to urge the industry to implement
measures to protect young people from tobacco imagery. The letters,
which 43 state and territory attorneys general signed, were sent to
Amazon.com, Apple, AT&T, CBS Corporation, Comcast Corporation,
Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, Google, Netflix, Sony, Lionsgate,
Viacom and Walmart. In October 2020, the same contingent of attorneys
general sent letters to the writer’s guilds asking them to persuade
members of the creative community to “depict tobacco imagery
responsibly, while still supporting artistic freedoms.”
We must do more to protect our youth. Truth Initiative calls for a
comprehensive set of policies to curb tobacco depictions on screens,
including:
>
Urge content creators to develop transparent anti-tobacco
policies – Media companies, creative guilds and show runners
should issue and publish comprehensive policies in a public
domain that do not support the normalization of tobacco.
>
Continue anti-tobacco and anti-vaping ads – Anti-tobacco
messages have been enormously successful in reducing tobacco
use rates and should be deployed before and during shows that
feature tobacco imagery. These messages should include specific
anti-smoking and anti-vaping messages that demonstrate the
harmful effects of this increasingly popular tobacco product.
>
Certify no tobacco industry payoffs – Big Tobacco has an overt
interest in the continued presence of tobacco on TV, in movies, and
in streaming content. It is essential that the film industry proves
that no parties or persons involved with a production received
anything of value in exchange for including smoking or vaping
depictions in a show.
>
Refuse website advertisements – Vaping giant JUUL placed
banner and video ads on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon-
owned websites nick.com, nickjr.com and cartoonnetwork.com.
Youth-focused networks should never accept advertising money
that explicitly targets young audiences with an addictive product,
and this policy should extend to network websites as well.
>
Continue and expand state public subsidy policies – Content
with tobacco depictions should not be eligible for local
production subsidies, including tax breaks and other incentives.
States can change their production subsidy policies to provide
tax and other incentives for only those productions that do not
promote tobacco use.
In October 2020,
the National Association
of Attorneys General sent
letters to the writer’s
guilds asking them to
persuade members of
the creative community
to “depict tobacco
imagery responsibly,
while still supporting
artistic freedoms.”
15
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
>
Continue and expand education and outreach – Many creatives in
the entertainment industry are not aware of the potentially deadly
effects that tobacco content can have on youth and young adults.
It is important to educate directors, writers and producers about
the importance of keeping tobacco out of their shows. Parents,
too, may need educating on the impact on their children of seeing
tobacco use onscreen.
>
Continue and expand ongoing research – More information is
available about the harmful effects of tobacco imagery than ever
before, yet there is more to be learned. A rigorous and ongoing
monitoring of tobacco imagery, including how it is portrayed
and who is watching, is needed by reputable non-media/tobacco
industry researchers. Especially with e-cigarette depictions on
the rise, it is critical to document and understand the impact of
streaming on youth culture and the many ways that it can impact
youth health. Media companies should provide researchers the
raw data needed to produce valid results (i.e. viewership data).
>
Provide resources for tobacco dependence – Much like streaming
companies do for suicide prevention, eating disorders and other
illnesses that affect youth, companies should provide static screen
shots with validated and evidence-based resources such as This is
Quitting to assist youth with nicotine dependence.
A rigorous and ongoing monitoring
of tobacco imagery, including how it
is portrayed and who is watching,
is needed by reputable non-media/
tobacco industry researchers.
16
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
HOW RESEARCHERS SELECTED AND ANALYZED SHOWS
Truth Initiative researchers surveyed 784 young people (ages 15-24) between December 11, 2020 –
January 14, 2021 to identify the top five streaming platforms: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime,
and HBO. To identify the most popular shows in 2020, researchers then surveyed over 3,000 young
people (ages 15-24) about every show on each of the top five platforms if it was scripted, in English,
and had a new season air in 2020. Researchers also asked young people to name streaming shows they
binge-watched in the past year to come up with a list of the most “binge-worthy” shows.
Top 2020 Shows among ages 15-24,
by popularity
• Spongebob, Season 12 (Nickelodeon)
• Family Guy, Season 18 (Fox)
• The Simpsons, Season 31 (Fox)
• 13 Reasons Why, Season 4 (Netflix)
• Rick and Morty, Season 4 (Adult Swim)
• Criminal Minds, Season 15 (CBS)
• Bunk’d, Season 4 (Disney Channel)
• Bob’s Burgers, Season 10 (Fox)
• Big Mouth, Season 4 (Netflix)
• Fuller House, Season 5 (Netflix)
• Law & Order SVU, Season 21 (NBC)
• Riverdale, Season 4 (CW)
• The Flash, Season 6 (CW)
• Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16 (ABC)
• On My Block, Season 3 (Netflix)
Top 2020 Binge-worthy Shows among
ages 15-24
• Queen’s Gambit, Season 1 (Netflix)
• The Umbrella Academy, Season 2 (Netflix)
• Shameless, Season 10 (Showtime)
• On My Block, Season 3 (Netflix)
• Family Guy, Season 18 (Fox)
• The Good Place, Season 4 (NBC)
• Big Mouth, Season 4 (Netflix)
• Bobs Burgers, Season 10 (FOX)
• Rick and Morty, Season 4 (Adult Swim)
• Euphoria, Special (HBO)
• Lucifer, Season 5 (Netflix)
• All American, Season 2 (CW)
• Criminal Minds, Season 15 (CBS)
• Arrow, Season 8 (CW)
• Riverdale, Season 4 (CW)
• Supernatural, Season 15 (WB/CW)
• Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16 (ABC)
• Mandalorian, Season 2 (Disney +)
• The 100 (CW)
• The Flash, Season 6 (CW)
• Outer Banks, Season 1 (Netflix)
• Brooklyn Nine Nine, Season 7 (NBC)
• Schitt’s Creek, Season 6 (Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
/Pop TV / ViacomCBS)
• Spongebob, Season 12 (Nickelodeon)
• The Good Doctor, Season 3 (ABC)
Reviewing shows for tobacco:
The research team at Breathe California viewed 777 episodes and 1500 hours of programming to
document tobacco depictions, counting images of tobacco products as they appeared on screen.
Scenes that included numerous tobacco images in powerwall and other similar scenes that pictured
a large display of tobacco products were counted as one instance of tobacco imagery. Researchers
coded shows from the top 2020 shows as well as binge-worthy shows for the presence of tobacco.
December 2021
WHILE YOU WERE STREAMING 2021
900 G Street, NW
Fourth Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202.454.5555
truthinitiative.org
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truthinitiative
REFERENCES
1 Bennett M, Hair EC, Liu M, et al. Exposure to tobacco content in episodic programs and
tobacco and E-cigarette initiation.
Preventive Medicine
2020;139:106169.
2 Preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults : a report of the Surgeon General.
Washington, D.C. : Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on
Smoking and Health, 2012.
3 Park-Lee E, Ren C, Sawdey MD, et al. Notes from the Field: E-Cigarette Use Among Middle
and High School Students—National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021.
Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report
2021;70(39):1387.
4 The Gauge Shows Streaming is Taking a Seat at the Table [Available from: https://www.
nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2021/the-gauge-shows-streaming-takes-a-seat-at-the-
table/ accessed September 13 2021.
5 Prange S. Deloitte Survey: 82% of U.S. Consumers Subscribe to at Least One Paid Streaming
Video Service [Available from: https://www.mediaplaynews.com/deloitte-survey-82-of-u-s-
consumers-subscribe-to-at-least-one-paid-streaming-video-service/ accessed September 16
2021.
6 Romo V. Netflix Promises To Quit Smoking On (Most) Original Programming NPR [Available
from: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/04/738719658/netflix-promises-to-quit-smoking-on-most-
original-programming accessed September 14 2021.
i To estimate exposure to tobacco imagery in these shows, the percent of youth and young
adults in the U.S. who reported watching an entire season of at least one program that
included at least one tobacco occurrence (60%) was multiplied by the total population of 15-to
24-year-olds from the U.S. Census.
ii A note on methodology: “Family Guy” had a total of 1449 tobacco depictions, 1350 of which
were included in one scene of a pile of cigarette butts. This scene and similar “powerwall”
scenes that picture a large display of tobacco products are counted as one instance of tobacco
imagery throughout this report, an update to how tobacco imagery was counted in previous
reports.
iii Researchers also asked young people to name streaming shows they binge-watched in the
past year to come up with a list of the most “binge-worthy” shows.
iv Researchers surveyed 1,020 young people between the ages 15-24 between September 3-9,
2021. Survey respondents were asked to select previous seasons from a list of the Top 15 and
“Binge-worthy” shows containing tobacco that they had binge-watched in the last year.
