Tobacco control campaigners on Monday protested against smoking in the movie "Transformers", which has broken box office records in China.

In "Transformers: Age of Extinction", major character Hound is seen with a cigar in his mouth, which has a bad influence on the audience, especially teenagers, said a letter to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

Non-government organizations such as ThinkTank, Nature University, and Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (CATC) are among those raising the issue.

The movie was harmful because of its smoking scenes, said Li Enze, a Beijing lawyer engaged in smoking control.

The campaigners asked the administration "examine and limit" the number of smoking shots, and require all cinemas to run footage anti-smoking ads before the movie.

In 2011, the administration released a circular on smoking in movies and TV plays. Since then, the CATC has disclosed evaluation results every day and granted a "Dirty Ashtray Award" to the movies and TV plays with most smoking, such as the blockbuster "Let the Bullets Fly".