Reality Check of Cortland, Chenango & Tompkins Counties is joining Reality Check Broome & Tioga who are partnering with the Binghamton Senators ice hockey team to spread the message about the devastating impact that tobacco use in movies has on youth when the Senators play the Toronto Marlies on February 24th.
Reality Check youth will be collecting signatures during the home game urging the Motion Picture Association of America to rate youth movies that show smoking “R”. Immediately following the game, Reality Check will host the smoke-free movie featuring The Secret Life of Pets on the Jumbotron in the arena for fans.
This educational event is part of the larger International Week of Action for Smoke-free Movies, held every year during the same month as the Academy Awards (Oscars), to draw attention to the youth worldwide that are recruited to start smoking due to images of tobacco use in movies. It’s time for Hollywood to stop putting tobacco in movies that kids see the most. Seventy percent of the PG-13 movies Oscar-listed in 2017 feature smoking.
In 2014 the U.S. Surgeon General reported that R-rating future films with smoking would lower teen smoking rates by 18 percent. That same year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that R-rating smoking would avert one million tobacco deaths among children and teens alive today.
Families interested in attending the hockey game and movie on February 24th can purchase tickets now by calling the Binghamton Senators Office at (607) 722-7367. Be sure to mention Reality Check Night on February 24th to get a special price!
Reality Check is part of Tobacco Free Zone and works to engage local stakeholders, educate community leaders and the public, and mobilize community members and organizations to strengthen tobacco-related policies that prevent and reduce tobacco use. Efforts also focus on reducing youth exposure to harmful tobacco marketing in retail settings, limiting exposure to secondhand smoke, and reducing smoking imagery in the media.