Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide: Smoking and Drinking in Disney's Animated Classics

Abstract

Disney films have long interested effects researchers, who have consistently shown the "quot;wholesome"quot; image generated by the company is misrepresentative. This content analysis explored tobacco and alcohol exposure in 24 Disney G-rated, animated, feature-length motion pictures from 1937 to 2000 and found 381 incidents of substance use. Over the decades, tobacco use tended to decrease while alcohol use increased. Virtually no antiuse messages were seen in these films directed to young children.