On Friday, Dec. 9, Chittenango Middle School students hosted a Smoke-Free Movie Night at their school hoping to spread an anti-tobacco message.
The seventh-grade students, who are part of a program called Reality Check, have been planning this event since October.
“One of Reality Check’s goals is to remove smoking in movies meant for children and teens,” said Mya Vincent, seventh-grader at Chittenango Middle School. “By having this movie night, and showing How The Grinch Stole Christmas, it proves that movies without smoking can be just as good as a movie with smoking.”
Last year, Disney decided that all of their youth-rated films would have no smoking. Because of this, the students had a table set up so people could sign letters to Disney, thanking them for this decision. The letters will be copied to other movie studios and the Motion Picture Association of America in hopes that other studios will follow suit.
Smoking in movies normalizes and glamorizes tobacco use, and the students are working to change the social norms surrounding tobacco and show the truth about a tobacco habit. To learn how you can help, you can visit www.realitycheckofny.com.