Classic onscreen smokers like the characters of Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood might have garnered R ratings for their films if they premiered in the near future, as initiatives seek to tag films with smoking as Restricted.

The latest push comes from the World Health Organization.

The portrayal of smoking in movies increases the probability that young viewers will start smoking, according to an August report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data show young people heavily exposed to onscreen tobacco use are two to three times more likely to begin smoking.

“It makes perfect sense that it would have an impact,” said Anne Osborne, associate professor of mass communication. “Celebrities are who young people look up to and want to emulate.”

Continued exposure to these behaviors may reinforce false ideas in impressionable minds, said Kathy Saichuk, Wellness Education coordinator.

It’s for this reason WHO aims to issue an R rating to films depicting tobacco use.

Saichuk said Hollywood’s portrayal of smoking has changed over time.

“There was a time when everyone in the movies smoked, even on television,” she said. “It was more ‘the norm’ than not.”

Saichuk said instances of tobacco use have decreased as health risks have been publicized, but smoking in movies is still an issue.

Forty-nine percent of the top-grossing films in 2009 contained depictions of tobacco use, according to a study by Breathe California Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, a nonprofit advocating clean air.

“When you see it used, it is in a glamorous way,” Osborne said. “You rarely see a movie where someone faces the long-term consequences of tobacco use.”

Saichuk added, “I think it would be a good environmental change to reduce the use of tobacco in movies and television.”

But not everyone is in favor of the rating system.

“Tobacco use isn’t that vulgar — it’s something you see in everyday life,” said Daniel Colvin, music composition freshman. “An R rating is a little extreme.”

Osborne said she didn’t know how much the rating could be enforced.

“Most of movie consumption is outside the theaters,” she said. “Kids can still find ways to see the images.”

Communication studies professor Michael Applin said the images of smoking may not be the key issue.

“I don’t put much stock in the idea that children mindlessly repeat what they see in the media,” he said. “They are much more likely to repeat what they see in their families and friends.”

The CDC reported that most people who begin smoking during adolescence are addicted by the age of 20.

According to the 2009 CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey, 52.5 percent of University students indicated using tobacco in their lifetime, while 12.8 percent used tobacco three times a week or more.

“Cigarettes are the only product that when used as directed will kill you,” Osborne said.