Press Release

Attorney General David Márquez Provides Hollywood With Anti-Smoking Messages for DVDs

October 7, 2006

(Anchorage) - Attorney General David Márquez joined with 401 other states' attorneys general to announce today that they have called upon Hollywood's major motion picture studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements in all DVDs, videos and other newer home viewing formats of movies in which smoking is depicted.

In November 2005 Márquez joined with 31 other states attorneys general in a similar request. This time each studio received three "classic" truth ® anti-smoking campaign messages that were created by the American Legacy Foundation and that are available at no cost for the studios' unlimited use.

"Motion picture studios are already required to advise parents that movie content may depict language, situations or graphic material that may be unsuitable for younger viewers," said Márquez. "In that same spirit it is equally important to share a public service message that smoking off-screen should be rated `X,' especially where children under 18 are concerned."

The studios never responded to the Attorneys General letter that was sent in November 2005. Instead, Motion Picture Association of America President Dan Glickman wrote to the Attorneys General that only the individual companies could decide whether to run PSAs on DVDs or videos and that the industry would consider PSAs as one possible idea in an overall anti-smoking campaign effort. To date, the Attorneys General have received no further indication from the studios or the MPAA of progress on an anti-smoking PSA effort.

"Governor Murkowski's administration has made a reduction in smoking by young people a primary goal in his continuing campaign to protect Alaskans from the known dangers of smoking," said Márquez. "Attaching anti-smoking messages to DVDs and other movie formats will supplement our own efforts to educate at-risk groups, especially younger Alaskans from taking up or continuing to engage in this dangerous habit."

Today's letter and the earlier request were sent to the CEOs of paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, Miramax Films, DreamWorks SKG, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers Studios, Fox Filmed Entertainment and New Line Cinema. Today's letter was also sent to the CEOs of three independent studios: Lionsgate, MTV Network and The Weinstein Company.

The PSAs can be viewed online at: http://webmail.americanlegacy.org. To view, click on the Legacy FTP button on the lower left hand corner of the page. Click on the Marcom FTP button. The PSAs are located in the PSA folder.

1 Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.