Public reaction to the portrayal of the tobacco industry in the film The Insider

Objectives-To assess public perceptions of the tobacco industry and behavio ural intentions for tobacco use in response to watching the film The Inside r. Design-Self administered pre-film survey conducted immediately before viewi ng and post-film telephone survey conducted within 1-5 weeks of viewing. Setting-Two commercial cinemas in Melbourne, Australia. Subjects-323 cinema patrons were recruited before screening of target films . 182 watched The Insider, 141 watched Erin Brockovich. Interventions-Subjects watched one of two films: The Insider which featured information about unethical conduct by the tobacco industry and negative i nformation about the health effects of smoking, or the "control" film Erin Brockovich which had an analogous plot without anti-tobacco content. Main outcome measures-Pre-film questionnaire: assessed movie viewing habits , demographic characteristics, smoking status, attitudes towards the tobacc o industry, intentions for smoking. Post-film questionnaire: assessed same attitudes and intentions plus questions on the film viewed and perceptions of smoking prevalence. Results-266 (82%) subjects completed the post-film survey. Attitudes toward the tobacco industry were unfavourable at baseline. Those who saw ne Insid er held more negative views of business conduct by the tobacco industry tha n those who saw Erin Brockovich, once pre-existing attitudes to the industr y were controlled for. The Insider also appears to have promoted a short te rm reduction in intentions to smoke. Conclusions-Results of this study suggest that if people were recurrently e xposed to anti-tobacco content in movies there its potential for a more sub stantial and lasting impact on attitudes toward the tobacco industry and sm oking.