Executive Summary
Guy Cumberbatch and Samantha Woods
Summary
This study was designed
to explore the possible influence that popular television programmes
might have in developing the attitudes of young people towards smoking.
The research focussed on television soap operas since these are among
the most popular programmes with young people. A
series of 40 focus group discussions were carried out with young people
aged 11-15 years covering their favourite television programmes and
characters and their attitudes to characters who might smoke. These
data were supplemented by an analysis of over 300 popular television
programmes to examine the extent and nature of smoking behaviour
portrayed.
Overall, the implications of this research for health education lie more in confirming problems than in providing easy solutions. The young people studied here held quite negative attitudes to smoking and did not support concerns that they might see smokers on television as attractive role models. However, this theme was contradicted by their perceptions of soap characters who might smoke. When asked which characters might smoke, the young people readily identified young attractive rebellious characters such as Bianca in EastEnders. Thus, young people did not perceive such characters as non-smokers even though they were never shown smoking. One obvious recommendation is that attractive characters could be portrayed as non-smokers rather than simply not smoking. However, the groups were very aware that UK soaps failed to show the health risks of smoking which Australian soaps appear to have exploited.
The results of the content analyses of programmes resonated well with the information gleaned from the young people studied. The incidence of smoking behaviour appears low in soaps compared with other drama and has declined over the years in UK productions. However, characters in Australian soaps appear to enjoy more healthy life styles than their UK counterparts and it is interesting that the Australian production Neighbours is the most popular of soaps among 11-15 year olds.
Overall, the implications of this research for health education lie more in confirming problems than in providing easy solutions. The young people studied here held quite negative attitudes to smoking and did not support concerns that they might see smokers on television as attractive role models. However, this theme was contradicted by their perceptions of soap characters who might smoke. When asked which characters might smoke, the young people readily identified young attractive rebellious characters such as Bianca in EastEnders. Thus, young people did not perceive such characters as non-smokers even though they were never shown smoking. One obvious recommendation is that attractive characters could be portrayed as non-smokers rather than simply not smoking. However, the groups were very aware that UK soaps failed to show the health risks of smoking which Australian soaps appear to have exploited.
The results of the content analyses of programmes resonated well with the information gleaned from the young people studied. The incidence of smoking behaviour appears low in soaps compared with other drama and has declined over the years in UK productions. However, characters in Australian soaps appear to enjoy more healthy life styles than their UK counterparts and it is interesting that the Australian production Neighbours is the most popular of soaps among 11-15 year olds.
Key findings
Content analysis
A total of 303 television programmes were examined. Of these, 223 were current soaps (transmitted between 27.02.95 and 24.04.95) and 80 programmes drawn from archives dating back to 1989.
1. Smoking was seen very rarely in the current soap operas analysed. Of the 9,555 characters appearances observed in current soap operas, just 23 smoked and thus just 0.2% of all character appearances included smoking portrayals.
2. Smoking did occur slightly more frequently in archive soap operas and notably more frequently in non-soap programmes (a sample of two programme series, selected because of their particular appeal to young people) than in current soap operas. Nine per cent of current soaps included a smoking portrayal compared to 14% of archive programmes and 36% of programmes in the non-soap sample.
3. Programmes produced in the UK included more frequent portrayals of smoking than those produced in Australia. One in seven (14%) programmes produced in the UK included a portrayal of smoking compared with one in twenty (5%) in Australian productions. Thus UK soap operas were almost three times more likely to include portrayals of smoking than their Australian counterparts.
4. Portrayals of smoking in current Australian soap operas were very rare. However, where they did occur, they were often incorporated into the storyline to deal with smoking as a problem (for example, examining the unpleasant implications of smoking such as ill health, addiction and disapproval from others). The smoking scenes were also used to highlight the negative side of stereotypically stressed or villainous characters.
5. By contrast, smoking in UK soap operas was used to add realism or a naturalistic feel to scenes (for example, background characters smoking in a public bar) and was thus largely not tendentious.
6. Overall, verbal and visual references to key health behaviours – that is, smoking, exercise, alcohol and foods - occurred relatively infrequently the non-soap sample. This suggests that the everyday nature of soap storylines and their domestic base, may afford more opportunities to portray health-related behaviours than other types of programming.
Focus group discussions
1. Despite the very low frequency of portrayals of smoking in soap operas, the young people participating in the group discussions talked with great fluency about smoking in this programme genre. Thus, even though portrayals are scarce, they do not go unnoticed and it could be argued that it is their rarity makes them more memorable.
2. The focus groups discussions reveal that teenagers in general have a very negative view of smoking, associating it with serious illness and unappealing side affects such as yellowing fingers or bad breath. These negative appraisals of smoking, however, are almost uniquely associated with the older female smoker. There remains a popular image of young smokers, who are perceived as being ‘rebellish’ and daring. In this context, smoking is perceived in a positive light and young people find themselves subjected to pressure from their friends encouraging them to smoke.
3. The participants were in almost unanimous agreement that stress and pressure was a major factor in the smoking behaviour of older soap characters. They frequently argued that smoking could play a positive role in controlling stress.
4. The participants were very aware of the addictive powers of cigarettes, many believing that smoking just one or two cigarettes would suffice to cause addiction. They almost unanimously believed that cigarettes were remarkably difficult to give up once addiction had formed.
5. The children were surprisingly aware of various health related storylines in soap operas, some dating back over one year. They also demonstrated good recall of individual storylines and described them with lucidity. This suggests that soap operas are potentially a powerful resource for health education messages.
6. There was no evidence to suggest that participants viewed smoking as a tool for controlling or losing weight. Despite probing on why people smoke, only on one occasion was weight loss spontaneously mentioned as a reason for smoking and when this subject was pursued by the interviewer/facilitator, the participants expressed mixed views. Overall, it was reasoned that smokers were usually overweight and thus smoking could not help weight loss. Similarly, it was not thought that smoking could make one appear more mature.
A total of 303 television programmes were examined. Of these, 223 were current soaps (transmitted between 27.02.95 and 24.04.95) and 80 programmes drawn from archives dating back to 1989.
1. Smoking was seen very rarely in the current soap operas analysed. Of the 9,555 characters appearances observed in current soap operas, just 23 smoked and thus just 0.2% of all character appearances included smoking portrayals.
2. Smoking did occur slightly more frequently in archive soap operas and notably more frequently in non-soap programmes (a sample of two programme series, selected because of their particular appeal to young people) than in current soap operas. Nine per cent of current soaps included a smoking portrayal compared to 14% of archive programmes and 36% of programmes in the non-soap sample.
3. Programmes produced in the UK included more frequent portrayals of smoking than those produced in Australia. One in seven (14%) programmes produced in the UK included a portrayal of smoking compared with one in twenty (5%) in Australian productions. Thus UK soap operas were almost three times more likely to include portrayals of smoking than their Australian counterparts.
4. Portrayals of smoking in current Australian soap operas were very rare. However, where they did occur, they were often incorporated into the storyline to deal with smoking as a problem (for example, examining the unpleasant implications of smoking such as ill health, addiction and disapproval from others). The smoking scenes were also used to highlight the negative side of stereotypically stressed or villainous characters.
5. By contrast, smoking in UK soap operas was used to add realism or a naturalistic feel to scenes (for example, background characters smoking in a public bar) and was thus largely not tendentious.
6. Overall, verbal and visual references to key health behaviours – that is, smoking, exercise, alcohol and foods - occurred relatively infrequently the non-soap sample. This suggests that the everyday nature of soap storylines and their domestic base, may afford more opportunities to portray health-related behaviours than other types of programming.
Focus group discussions
1. Despite the very low frequency of portrayals of smoking in soap operas, the young people participating in the group discussions talked with great fluency about smoking in this programme genre. Thus, even though portrayals are scarce, they do not go unnoticed and it could be argued that it is their rarity makes them more memorable.
2. The focus groups discussions reveal that teenagers in general have a very negative view of smoking, associating it with serious illness and unappealing side affects such as yellowing fingers or bad breath. These negative appraisals of smoking, however, are almost uniquely associated with the older female smoker. There remains a popular image of young smokers, who are perceived as being ‘rebellish’ and daring. In this context, smoking is perceived in a positive light and young people find themselves subjected to pressure from their friends encouraging them to smoke.
3. The participants were in almost unanimous agreement that stress and pressure was a major factor in the smoking behaviour of older soap characters. They frequently argued that smoking could play a positive role in controlling stress.
4. The participants were very aware of the addictive powers of cigarettes, many believing that smoking just one or two cigarettes would suffice to cause addiction. They almost unanimously believed that cigarettes were remarkably difficult to give up once addiction had formed.
5. The children were surprisingly aware of various health related storylines in soap operas, some dating back over one year. They also demonstrated good recall of individual storylines and described them with lucidity. This suggests that soap operas are potentially a powerful resource for health education messages.
6. There was no evidence to suggest that participants viewed smoking as a tool for controlling or losing weight. Despite probing on why people smoke, only on one occasion was weight loss spontaneously mentioned as a reason for smoking and when this subject was pursued by the interviewer/facilitator, the participants expressed mixed views. Overall, it was reasoned that smokers were usually overweight and thus smoking could not help weight loss. Similarly, it was not thought that smoking could make one appear more mature.
7. The
participants were favourably disposed towards health messages in
television and generally felt that gory and disturbing story lines or
images would be most powerful in stopping people from taking up smoking
and encouraging smokers to stop. However, this was externalised to
‘other people’. One child explicitly stated that these gory health
risks were too remote in her own future to act as a deterrent.
8. The young people did identify a number of characters who were perceived to be ‘smoking types’ even though they were not actually shown smoking. This assessment was based on the character’s attributes, behaviours and overall persona. In particular, Jack of Home and Away and Bianca of EastEnders were perceived as smoking types and were seen as attractive characters by the young people.
9. Participants showed a strong tendency towards seeing others and younger age groups as being most vulnerable to the influences of television.
10. Surprisingly, there did not appear to be any notable differences in opinions towards smoking according to the age and gender of the young people in the focus groups. Any difference between groups seemed attributable to the academic ability of the individuals. Evidence for this was seen via differences in ability to articulate ideas and the varying levels of complexity with which issues were approached regardless of age or gender.
8. The young people did identify a number of characters who were perceived to be ‘smoking types’ even though they were not actually shown smoking. This assessment was based on the character’s attributes, behaviours and overall persona. In particular, Jack of Home and Away and Bianca of EastEnders were perceived as smoking types and were seen as attractive characters by the young people.
9. Participants showed a strong tendency towards seeing others and younger age groups as being most vulnerable to the influences of television.
10. Surprisingly, there did not appear to be any notable differences in opinions towards smoking according to the age and gender of the young people in the focus groups. Any difference between groups seemed attributable to the academic ability of the individuals. Evidence for this was seen via differences in ability to articulate ideas and the varying levels of complexity with which issues were approached regardless of age or gender.
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