‘The Incredible Hulk’ and smoking

The New York Times today has more on what the heck is up with that disclaimer:

Last week, the advocacy arm of the powerful physicians’ group [the American Medical Association] unleashed a tsk-tsk campaign against “The Incredible Hulk,” a Marvel film that opened on Friday and is distributed by Universal Pictures. The complaint was of “gratuitous depictions of smoking.”

In the movie, which drew a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, Gen. Thunderbolt Ross, a bad guy played by William Hurt, is rarely seen without a smoke-spewing cigar. (Presumably, the physicians’ association worries that children who identify with the authoritarian general — who wants to annihilate the Hulk, played by Edward Norton — may be tempted to pick up the habit.)

Seriously: the AMA is upset because the villain smokes. You have to wonder what kind of universe they’re living in if they believe kids will be moved to take up smoking because the moustache-twirling bad guy who wants to lock up or even kill our beloved Bruce Banner thinks it’s cool.

(Technorati tags: Incredible Hulk, smoking)