DOWNING a cosmopolitan like Carrie Bradshaw might seem chic, but Hollywood blockbusters are turning teenagers to drink. Depictions of "cool" drinking in top-grossing films such as The Hangover and Sex And The City can leave a lasting impression on teens, who may try to imitate their on-screen heroes, scientists found.
A study in the journal Pediatrics found a strong link between youth drinking and film images - while youths ignored smoking in films.
More than 16,000 youngsters aged 10 to 19 across six European countries were involved in the study, which found 27 per cent of children had consumed more than five alcoholic drinks at least once.
At least 86 per cent of the 655 popular movies viewed by the children contained a scene involving alcohol.
The movies studied include the 50 most successful films from 2005-2008 and the 25 top movies from 2004 and 2009.
These include hits such as Wedding Crashers, Walk The Line, Twilight, Meet The Fockers, Mamma Mia, Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Break-Up and the Batman franchise.
"It was estimated that the most highly exposed adolescents had seen in excess of 10,000 alcohol depictions," wrote the authors, from Germany's Institute for Therapy and Health Research.
"Adolescents with higher exposure to alcohol use in movies were significantly more likely to have engaged in binge drinking.
"Exposure to movie alcohol use remained significantly associated with binge drinking, whereas exposure to movie smoking was not."
The authors suggested fewer images of drinking in movies would lead to less teens hitting the bottle.
Professor Stephen Kline, who will tomorrow address the Australian Council on Children and the Media about the impact on marketing to children, said teen risk-taking and the growing consumer power of teens was a volatile mix.
"Kids are exposed to all kinds of messages on TV and in films and there are consequences," Professor Kline said.
dailytelegraph.com.au 8 Mar 2012
It is a well known fact within the Hollywood media mogul industry that children mimic the actions of their movie / pop music 'idols'.
This fact is used to exploit the minds of the children of the masses into many forms of social degradation.
This is a deliberate tactic used to enslave the minds of the youth for the benefit of authorities / corporations.
When a society is not educated, dysfunctional and families are broken, then they are easier to control.
Another win for the Hollywood financiers, and the many organisations / individuals that support them.
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