Disney Studios has announced that images of smoking will not be featured in any movie released under the company's name.
Variety reports that during a meeting of the company's shareholders Disney CEO and chairman Bog Iger made it clear that smoking would be prohibited from all films including those produced by Pixar, Lucas, and Marvel Studios. Iger said that the reasoning for the ban was to maintain Disney's image as a family friendly company and not have smoking influence children.
According to The Wrap, Iger said that the only exception would include depictions of historical figures who smoked during their time. Iger gave an example of an upcoming project featuring Abraham Lincoln who was known as a smoker.
“But in terms of any new characters that are created for any of those films, under any of those labels, we will absolutely prohibit smoking in any of those films,” he concluded, generating applause.
Other announcements from the meeting included details about the follow up to the upcoming Star Wars movie and that a sequel to the popular hit Frozen is in the works.