Although Simpson’s character Krusty the Clown has a pacemaker and Selma and Patty have raspy ‘smoker’ voices, it doesn’t mean children are deterred from cigarettes the characters have hanging from their mouths.
A study of the famous US cartoon has found that the increased amount of smoking characters and situations might influence young viewers to take up the habit. There are many smoking incidents on the show and researchers Dr Guy and Marielle Eslick have found there are a huge 795 smoking instances or references during the Simpsons.

More than half of the characters involved in smoking were male, a fifth female and even non-gendered characters like animals took part. In most cases smoking was portrayed as neutral, 35 percent of the time it has negative connotations whilst two percent was positive associations.

Although the characters in the Tv series have effects of smoking shown on their bodies, the constant reminder and image of cigarettes may not deter children from taking it up. One brand reappears in many episodes, and although it may have been portrayed in a negative way, the fact that children are viewing smoking may still influence their behaviour.

Researchers said of their study in the Medical Journal of Australia: “Previous studies have highlighted the influence of on-screen use of tobacco by movie stars on adolescents, and the increased likelihood of these adolescents taking up smoking,”.

Despite “being exposed to The Simpsons characters smoking” both adults and children continue to watch the hundreds of re-run episodes or on DVD and it is still as popular as ever.

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