Madam, - Your film critic Donald Clarke pokes fun at the idea of discouraging film-makers from glamorising smoking (The Ticket, May 25th). Ironically, it is the MPAA, the US film certification body, that he refers to as being "shadowy" - and not the tobacco multinationals.
Contrary to the impression given in his article, the rate of smoking in films has actually increased significantly in recent years - and anybody who goes to the cinema even occasionally will know that smoking scenes are not confined to depressives and psychopaths. There are now several studies confirming that the depiction of smoking as a "cool thing to do" has a direct influence on the uptake of smoking among young people - hardly surprising when you consider iconic movie images of actors such as Scarlett Johansson or Brad Pitt, cigarette in hand or mouth.
It would be interesting to see Donald Clarke, whose reviews and articles I normally admire, attempt to explore reasons for the exaggerated depiction of smoking in films and the apparently unquestioning support among many film-makers for the tobacco industry. - Yours, etc,
JOE KEYES, Pakenham, Monkstown, Co Dublin.