Now, less number of adults are reporting being smokers. Researchers from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania said the decline may have a strong connection to how much smoking is shown on television.

A decline in visibility to tobacco in prime time American television programs is one of the reasons for decline in smoking rate. Not only it's good news, but it also shows a change in Hollywood. Earlier, Hollywood was blamed for making American acceptance to cigarettes. But now, it seems that the situation is changing.

Since 1950s, researchers have assessed more than 1,800 hours of the top rated television shows. They have also counted the number of smoking instances till 2010. Results shocked them as there were on an average five depictions of tobacco use per hour of television in 1961. In 2010, the number dropped to 0.29 instances.

This led researchers to conclude that per person, Americans smoked 39 less cigarettes per instance of tobacco use on television. The period of research was the time when the tobacco companies were banned from sponsoring shows. In 1971, the strictness level increased even further and no tobacco company was allowed to advertise on television or radio.

The steps taken by authorities concerned coupled with more number of studies revealing negative effects of smoking brought a decline in smoking rate. In 2010, smoking on television was found to be quite a rare affair.

In general also, the smoking rate among Americans declined to 19.3% of the population. Lead author Patrick Jamieson said seeing TV characters smoking, it got difficult for smokers to quit the habit as it triggered the urge. But decline in smoking scenes proved beneficial.

Many other efforts that contributed to decline include introduction of warning level on all tobacco packaging in 1965, rise in taxes on tobacco products and anti-tobacco education.