Smoking in contemporary German television programming.
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence of smoking in German television in 2005.


METHODS
Content analysis of all programmes of the four main national channels Das Erste, ZDF RTL and Pro7 over one week between 3 pm and 12 pm. A total of 395 programmes were analysed (252 h of programming). Each programme was coded regarding whether there was one or more smoking occurrence, defined as active smoking or handling with tobacco products by a character.


RESULTS
Smoking was portrayed in 176 (45%) of the programmes. Smoking occurrences were frequent in movies (77%), and in TV magazines (69%). Movies, films, and serials produced in Germany showed more often smoking (65%) compared with productions from abroad (48%; p = 0.051).


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking is frequently portrayed in German TV.
Hanewinkel
Reiner
R
Institute for Therapy and Health Research, IFT-Nord, Kiel, Germany. hanewinkel@ift-nord.de
Wiborg
Gudrun
G
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013690:Television / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*