"The more popular such a production is, the worse the influence is," she says.

The association says that 6.9 percent of Chinese teenagers smoke, and another 19.9 percent have tried smoking. Xu says those who produce entertainment need to reduce depictions of smoking to set a good example of healthy living to teenagers.

Chen Dongdong, the producer of the popular TV series Feige the Big Hero, says that with anything she films she aims to come up with "clean" footage. She says celebrities have a social responsibility to be good role models.

However, some have criticized the Dirty Ashtray Awards as being little more than a token protest, particularly given that Jiang has won the top award twice and that the number of scenes depicting smoking does not appear to be falling.

"Only when the authorities take effective action to regulate movies and TV series, such as by imposing hefty fines if there are too many smoking scenes or banning productions that cross the line, will things improve," says Ma Chaohu, a film and TV critic.

"But when you consider that most movies and TV series are based on reality, perhaps showing some characters smoking is unavoidable."