Harvey Weinstein
© AFP/Getty Images/FileLOS ANGELES (AFP) - The Weinstein Company, run by legendary Hollywood moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein, is the first company to sign up to the initiative, which will get under way when the company releases "Clerks II" on DVD in December.
A statement from California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said legal authorities across the US had urged several Hollywood studios to consider adopting the initiative.
"Bob and Harvey Weinstein deserve great credit for taking a leadership role in helping to fight youth smoking, which remains one of the most serious public health problems facing communities across the country," Lockyer said.
Harvey Weinstein said he felt obligated to sign up to the deal as a former smoker. "I feel like it's my responsibility to do everything I can to educate young people about the dangers of smoking," Weinstein said.
The Weinstein brothers, who started the successful Miramax company involved with such Oscar-winning classics as "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love" said they hoped other studios would now be encouraged to follow suit.
"Hopefully, our companys decision to move forward will make other studios reconsider the idea," they said in a statement.
Lockyer and 40 other state attorneys-general in September sent a letter offering a choice of three anti-smoking advertisements to 13 major motion picture companies for inclusion in DVDs at no cost to the studios.
So far only The Weinstein Company has responded.
Other companies offered the ads include Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Company, Miramax Films, DreamWorks SKG, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers Studios, Fox Filmed Entertainment and New Line Cinema.
©AFP