Disney "Absolutely Prohibits" Smoking In Movies: Ban Reaches Marvel, Pixar Films

Disney movies will no longer feature characters who are smoking, according to the declaration made by the company's CEO, Bob Iger, during the annual shareholder's meeting on Thursday held in San Francisco, reported Variety.

"I thought it was the right thing for us to do," Iger shared regarding the said announcement. However, the executive was quick to point out possible exceptions from the recently imposed smoking ban. According to Iger, smoking may be permitted in movies that feature historical figures who have been known smokers to maintain the accuracy and genuineness of the said films.

"Except when we are depicting a historical figure who may have smoked at the time" the CEO clarified. Iger used as an example the main character of the company's upcoming film, Abraham Lincoln, to demonstrate his point. He shared that it would be "acceptable" to depict the said character as a smoker as Lincoln had been widely known to indulge in the habit.

In their official announcement regarding this declaration, Disney shared that the company limits cigarette smoking in those movies that are not rated "R" to "scenes in which smoking is part of the historical, biographical or cultural context of the scene or is important to the character or scene from a factual or creative standpoint or  scenes in which cigarette smoking is portrayed in an unfavorable light or the negative consequences of smoking are emphasized."

Iger pointed out that the absolute ban on smoking will be implemented in the creation of new characters.

"But in terms of any new characters that are created for any of those films, under any of those labels, we will absolutely prohibit smoking in any of those films," he revealed.

Moreover, the new policy was announced to cover the movies under other studios Iger controls. "We are extending our policy to prohibit smoking in movies across the board: Marvel, Lucas, Pixar, and Disney films," he further announced.

However, the smoking ban imposed by Disney is not a new decision made by the company. In fact, this rule has been implemented to affect all films produced by the company as well as those distributed under the Disney label after the year 2007.