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Campaigners Seeking Movie Smoking Ban Challenge MPAA Defence

Back in April, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) attempted to defend itself against a lawsuit hoping to ban smoking in films deemed suitable for children, by claiming that such a ban would infringe on free speech.

Their view is that movie ratings are opinions and should be protected by the US first amendment. However, those leading the ongoing lawsuit are now arguing that they are not.

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According to the MPAA the lawsuit “is a misguided attempt to upend basic tort principles and core First Amendment protections to force the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) — the movie ratings body that the MPAA and NATO jointly operate — to change the opinions it expresses through its movie ratings system.”

Campaigners led by Timothy Forsyth want films rated G, PG and PG-13 (the US equivilant of U, PG and 12A) to be banned from depicting characters smoking.

They’ve cited examples such as ‘Iron Man 3’, 'Dumb and Dumber Too’ and 'Transformers: Age of Extinction’.

Forsyth and his fellow plantiffs said in the statement: “The complaint asserts that defendants cannot affix a PG-13 or lower certification on movies with tobacco imagery, because they know that it has been scientifically established that subjecting children to such imagery will result in the premature death of more than a million of them.” (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The case is ongoing.

Picture Credits: Sony Pictures