Netflix criticized by anti-smoking group for amount of smoking scenes in original shows

Netflix has been criticized by an anti-smoking group, The Truth Initiative, for the amount of smoking scenes in its original shows.

The Truth Initiative is a US-based, non-profit organization that is “dedicated to making tobacco use a thing of the past.” Their website claims they have “helped bring teen cigarette use down from 23 per cent in 2000 to less than six per cent in 2018.”

The group conducted a study into Netflix’s original series and found that it has the highest instances of characters smoking on TV.

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The study looked at the 14 most popular shows for viewers between the ages of 15 to 24, with seven of those shows being Netflix shows and the other seven from broadcast television between 2015 and 2016.

Stranger Things is the worst offender according to the group’s study, with 182 smoking scenes, while AMC’s Walking Dead came in second with 94 smoking scenes.

The other Netflix shows that appeared on the list were Orange is the New Black, with 45 smoking scenes, House of Cards, with 41 smoking scenes, Fuller House, with 22 smoking scenes, and Making A Murderer, with 20 smoking scenes.

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With 319 smoking incidents overall, Netflix features more than double the smoking scenes on other TV stations.

Robin Koval, CEO and president of The Truth Initiative, said in a statement that the rise of streaming means there is now “a pervasive reemergence of smoking across screens that is glamorizing and re-normalizing a deadly habit to millions of impressionable young people. It has to stop.”

“Well-documented movie research shows that youth and young adults with high exposure to tobacco imagery are twice as likely to begin smoking as those with less,” the research notes.

Streaming services don’t have to conform to the same restrictions as cable television, where cigarette ads are banned.

A spokesperson for Netflix told Variety the service was “interested to find out more about the study” and that while they were happy “streaming entertainment is more popular than ever, we’re glad smoking is not.”