Anti-Smoking Activists Blast ‘Rango’ for Promoting Smoking

Johnny Depp’s latest movie is the animated flick “Rango,” which, as expected, made its way at the top of the US box office immediately upon release. But there still are people not happy with it, particularly anti-smoking activists.

Apparently, there are over 60 instances of smoking in the film, the non-profit organization Breathe California has learned.

As such, the PG-rated film would better work with an R rating, the group says, because it’s definitely promoting smoking, in the sense that it will tell children watching it it’s ok to light up, MovieFone informs.

Studies have shown that children exposed to images of people smoking are more likely to start themselves, as compared to peers who are not exposed that often.

With the instances of smoking in “Rango” topping 60, the film is almost on par with the “101 Dalmatians,” which has 77 instances (all of Cruella De Vil) and is believed to be the “leader” in this category.

“[Breathe California] CEO Kori Titus announced she was ‘taken aback’ by the amount of puffing in Rango and put it on a par with 101 Dalmatians, the worst culprit so far when it comes to smoking in children's movies,” MovieFone writes.

Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, agrees: “Rango” promotes smoking and should include zero instances of it because it’s a kids’ movies.

“A lot of kids are going to start smoking because of this movie, because, according to his statistics, children who regularly see smoking in films are two to three times more likely to start smoking than others in their age group,” Glantz says.

To raise awareness on the issue, Glantz has taken a one-page out in famed movie publications like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, asking the industry stop OK-ing smoking in PG movies.

In the meanwhile, Paramount Pictures says that, while smoking is included in “Rango,” it’s definitely not portrayed as something that should be emulated.

“The images of smoking in the film... are portrayed by supporting characters and are not intended to be celebrated or emulated,” the spokesperson for the movie studio says.