Call to restrict smoking scenes
A Liverpool-based anti-smoking group is campaigning for all films featuring people smoking to be given 18 certificates. Now, I’m happy about the smoking ban in cinemas, pubs and restaurants (for my own comfort; I’m still unsure of how ethical a blanket ban really is) but this is just insane.
It seems superfluous and too obvious to state, but smoking is legal. Children can see *real* people (possibly, OMIGOD, IN THEIR OWN FAMILY!) smoking in public every day. They can also go to the cinema and legally be exposed to some pretty extreme violence and bizarre Hollywood worldviews (one of which seems appropriate here).
As usual, the Daily Mash makes the most sense of the issue.