AIM: This study was aimed to access the duration of trailer time related to use of tobacco and alcohol products in Tamil movies released in 2015. METHOD: The total movies released in 2015 were accessed from www.prokerala.com and www.Wikipedia.com. The total numbers of movies released were 192 and the trailers were watched by 4 investigators. The movies trailers were categorized into those with or without scenes depicting onscreen use of tobacco and alcohol products. The former were further divided into one which did not have statutory warning and other one which had statutory warning. The total time duration of scenes which had tobacco & alcohol related products were recorded. RESULT: Among 192 trailers, 28 trailers (14.58%) depicted the use of tobacco or alcohol related products. In these 28 trailers, 18 trailers (9.37%) had statutory warning whereas 10 trailers (5.20%) had no statutory warning. CONCLUSION: Among 192 movies released in 2015, about 14.5% of the film trailers depicted the use of tobacco or alcohol products. Among these 9.37% trailer displayed statutory warnings and 5.2% were without statutory warning which is in contradiction to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.
Keywords: Statutory warnings, Movie trailers, Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.
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