Executive Summary

This study examines the frequency and nature of substance use in the most popular movie rentals and songs of 1996 and 1997. The intent was to determine the accuracy of public perceptions about extensive substance use in media popular among youth. Because teenagers are major consumers of movies and music, there is concern about the potential for media depictions of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs to encourage use. For instance, portrayals that tend to legitimize, normalize, trivialize, or glorify substances might suggest to young people that this behavior is without negative consequences. Careful examination of media content is a crucial first step in determining what role media may play in promoting substance use and abuse.

This study examined the 200 most popular movie rentals and 1,000 of the most popular songs from 1996 and 1997. The source for the movie sample selection was the Video Software Dealers Association, which rank orders home video rentals; the music sample was based on song rankings produced by Billboard, Radio and Records magazine, and the College Music Journal. In order to encompass young people’s divergent tastes in music, the sample included top songs from five genres: Country-Western, Alternative Rock, Hot-100 (also referred to as Top-40 or Mainstream), Rap, and Heavy Metal (which includes Hard Rock and Heavy Rock).

Substances included in the study were illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter and prescription medicines. Researchers examined what was used, by whom, how often, under what circumstances, and with what consequences. The study considered whether movies and songs involved substance use as an important theme, contained pro- or anti-use behavior or statements, conveyed limit-setting messages, or associated substance use with positive or negative contexts. Also examined was the extent to which substance use portrayals varied among different types of movies and movies with different ratings.

Findings revealed that 98 percent of movies studied depicted illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco or over-the-counter/prescription medicines. Alcohol and tobacco appeared in more than 90 percent of the movies and illicit drugs appeared in 22 percent. About one-quarter (26 percent) of the movies that depicted illicit drugs contained explicit, graphic portrayals of their preparation and/or ingestion. Substance use was almost never a central theme, and very few movies ever specified motivations for use. Less than one-half (49 percent) of the movies portrayed short-term consequences of substance use, and about 12 percent depicted long-term consequences. Of the 669 adult major characters featured in the 200 movies, 5 percent used illicit drugs, 25 percent smoked tobacco, and 65 percent consumed alcohol. One or more major characters used illicit drugs in 12 percent of the movies, tobacco in 44 percent, and alcohol in 85 percent.

All movies in which illicit drugs appeared received restricted ratings (PG-13 or R). However, 45 percent of the movies in which illicit drugs were used did not receive specific remarks identifying drug-related content from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Fifteen movies depicting illicit drug use (albeit briefly), were not identified as such in the Motion Picture Rating Directory, nor were an additional 10 movies that portrayed drug sales or trafficking.

The major finding from the song analysis is the dramatic difference among music categories, with substance references being particularly common in Rap. Illicit drugs were mentioned in 63 percent of Rap songs versus about 10 percent of the lyrics in the other categories. Similarly, alcohol references appeared in almost half of the Rap lyrics, but in 13 percent or fewer of the other genres. In song lyrics that mentioned illicit drugs, marijuana was by far the most frequent of the illicit drugs mentioned (63 percent). In general, 27 percent of the 1,000 songs contained a clear reference to either alcohol or illicit drugs. There were almost no references to tobacco. Substance use formed a central theme in only 2 percent of the songs and substance use was rarely associated with any motivations or consequences. There were few references that could be considered either explicitly pro-use or anti-use.

Neither movies nor music provided much information about motives for substance use. However, the two media depicted the consequences quite differently, especially for illicit drugs. In movies that portrayed drug use, 48 percent showed one or more consequences of drug use. By contrast, 19 percent of the songs that referred to illicit drugs mentioned any consequence.

Following are additional highlights from the study.

• Illicit drugs appeared in about one-fifth of both movies (22 percent) and songs (18 percent).

• In movies, illicit drug depictions were distributed somewhat evenly across genres: action adventure (10 percent), comedy (13 percent), and drama (18 percent); in music, references to illicit drugs were far more likely to be found in Rap songs (63 percent) than in Alternative Rock (11 percent), Hot-100 (11 percent), Heavy Metal (9 percent), or Country-Western (1 percent).

• Illicit drug use was associated with wealth or luxury in 15 percent of the movies in which drugs appeared, with sexual activity in 6 percent, and with crime or violence in 30 percent; illicit drug use was associated with wealth or luxury in 20 percent of the songs in which drugs appeared, with sexual activity in 30 percent, and with crime or violence in 20 percent.

• Fifteen percent of the movies that portrayed illicit drug use contained an "anti-use" statement, and 21 percent depicted a refusal to offers of illicit drugs; 6 percent of these songs contained an anti-use statement and 2 percent portrayed a refusal of an offer to use.

• Consequences of illicit drug use were depicted in about half (48 percent) of the movies in which they appeared and in about one-fifth of the songs (19 percent).

• In movies depicting illicit drugs, marijuana appeared most frequently (51 percent), followed by powder cocaine (33 percent), hallucinogens, heroin or other opiates, and miscellaneous others (each 12 percent) and crack-cocaine (2 percent); in songs referring to illicit drugs, marijuana appeared most frequently (63 percent), followed by crack-cocaine (15 percent), powder cocaine (10 percent), and hallucinogens, heroin or other opiates, and miscellaneous others (4 percent each).

• Alcohol appeared in 93 percent of the movies and 17 percent of the songs; tobacco appeared in 89 percent of the movies but only 3 percent of the songs.

• In movies, tobacco and alcohol use were consistent across movie genres, with each substance appearing in more than 80 percent of action adventures, comedies, and dramas.

• In songs, tobacco and alcohol appeared most frequently in Rap music. Seven percent of Rap songs contained a tobacco reference; Alternative Rock was next at 4 percent; and all others were below 2 percent. Alcohol appeared in 47 percent of Rap songs; no other genre rose above 13 percent.

• Alcohol use was associated with wealth or luxury in 34 percent of the movies in which it appeared, with sexual activity in 19 percent, and with crime or violence in 37 percent; alcohol use was associated with wealth or luxury in 24 percent of the songs in which it was referenced, with sexual activity in 34 percent, and with crime or violence in 13 percent.

• Of the movies portraying alcohol use, 9 percent contained an anti-use statement and 14 percent depicted a refusal of an offer of alcohol; of the songs, 3 percent contained an anti-use statement and 5 percent a refusal of an offer of alcohol.

• Consequences of alcohol use were depicted in 43 percent of movies and in 9 percent of songs.

The preceding results show the differences in the frequency of substance use portrayals between movies and songs. However, since songs are only a few minutes in length and movies often last 2 or more hours, another useful comparison was made by dividing the movies into 4,372 segments of 5 minutes and equating these shorter intervals to songs. This approach provides a more accurate comparison of the frequency of substance references in equivalent time periods of movie viewing or music listening.

• Song lyrics contained a greater concentration of illicit drug references than did 5-minute movie segments. Illicit drugs appeared in nine times more songs (18 percent) than 5-minute movie segments (2 percent).

• The difference between the frequency of alcohol references in movies and songs was reduced. Alcohol appeared in about half as many songs (17 percent) as 5-minute movie segments (31 percent).