All We Want for Christmas is Tobacco-Free Movies!
Christmas and holiday movies bring to mind classic winter imagery – snow falling, mugs of hot cocoa steaming, reindeer prancing and flying through the sky, joy on children’s faces over presents and the magic of Santa, sledding and skiing, the glow of Christmas lights, and tobacco? Tobacco, especially pipes, has long established itself as a feature of Christmas, holiday, and winter movies spanning from newly released films like Red One, to holiday classics like White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life.
The most common place tobacco appears in holiday features is through our classic friend, Frosty the Snowman. Frosty the Snowman was first introduced to audiences in 1950, through the iconic song “Frosty the Snowman,” which described him as having “a corncob pipe and a button nose”. Future iterations of Frosty have taken this description to heart, with most depictions of Frosty and many snowmen featuring corncob or other types of pipes. Frosty was shown with his classic pipe when he hit screens in 1969 with Frosty the Snowman, a 22-minute animated short that would go on to cement his image in pop culture. Shows like Bob’s Burgers have featured snowmen with pipes in Christmas episodes, and we continue to see smoking snowmen featured prominently in new movies like Red One (2024). There is no reason for a snowman to have a pipe of any kind as they are made of snow, but especially no reason for pipes to continue to be prominently featured in movies and shows that are often rated G, PG, PG-13 and marketed at youth and families.
Another frequent tobacco user in holiday feature films is Santa Clause himself. Bad Santa, Bad Santa 2, and Santa Smokes all use tobacco to show that the character of the “Bad Santa” is a negative character with an addiction. While these films appropriately received R ratings or are not rated, that is not the case for most holiday movies featuring tobacco.
Tobacco is also used to depict the stress of “Santas” who work at the mall or other commercial outlets, as seen in Home Alone (Santa quickly put out his cigarette and waves the smoke away from Kevin, a minor).
Tobacco use often appears in holiday movies to depict stress and how characters navigate difficult emotions during tense or chaotic moments. Movies such as: Four Christmases, Christmas with the Kranks, Nothing Like the Holidays, The Holiday, Elf, Love Actually, The Holdovers, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and many other holiday themed movies depict tobacco use as a response to manage stress around gatherings, traveling, family expectations, financial strain, and other challenges that come with the holidays. According to the California Youth Tobacco Survey, the most commonly endorsed reason for vaping was to relax or relieve stress or anxiety. Respondents who rated their mental health as poor or fair had a higher susceptibility to vapes and cigarettes than those who rated it good, very good, or excellent[i].
Nicotine releases chemicals that produce a euphoric effect on the brain which temporarily reduces stress and can be a reliable solution. However, Big Tobacco is best known for their illusions. Research has proven smoking increases anxiety over time. Studies conducted by the Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews have shown that smoking does decrease stress levels short term but dysregulates brain stress systems leading to increased anxiety long-term[i]. During the holiday season stress can pile up and it’s important to prepare for that. Lean on your support systems, give yourself time and space, and know your social limitations. Featuring tobacco as a go-to option for stress management in any media, but especially media focused on the holiday season, continues to perpetuate that tobacco products are an effective way to manage stress which is a false narrative and dangerous.
Tobacco use should not be included in youth rated films or films created for families to enjoy together. The few holiday movies that contained tobacco and received an R rating received that rating for content like violence, gore, and profanity, rather than the tobacco they featured, like Bad Santa and Bad Santa 2. Youth and young adults with high exposure to popular streaming and TV shows containing tobacco are three times more likely to start vaping compared to their peers with no exposure[ii]. Films with tobacco content should be required to have an R-rating to inform and educate the public on content they engage with but also to protect youth and young adults from exposure to tobacco in media. This holiday season as you chose movies to watch as a family, we recommend taking the time to check and see if those films contain tobacco at https://smokefreemedia.ucsf.edu/, and if they do, having thoughtful conversations about the inclusion of those products especially with any young viewers.
Need more support with quitting tobacco products this holiday season? Check out KickIT CA for more resources here!
[ii] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763412000413
Authors: Ellen Brickey and Savannah Olivier