Thank You for Smoking

Mackenzie Loughran

Thank You for Smoking       

    Thank You for Smoking shows how persuasion still works/can be used even when a product or ad is harmful. Nick Naylor, the main character, promotes cigarettes even though there is some deception because of the deaths caused by smoking each year. Since his job is to persuade people, he has a good idea of how the human brain operates to ensure he is persuading through emotion. Personally, if I had better persuasion skills, I could do Nick’s job because of his techniques and high salary.

    With a salary of $100k/$200k a year, it would be the “smart” move to join the tobacco business, but because I know the chemicals in cigarettes, I would not be the best salesperson. As I was watching the film, I realized that even though it is legal to sell a cigarette or substance, it is still not ethical to do so and can cause cognitive dissonance to some people (actions not matching beliefs). I was never fond of the fact that cigarettes, alcohol, and vaping are generalized in advertising because you are promoting a substance that has thousands of deaths each year. 

    When it comes to advertising cigarettes or vaping, I personally think it was a very

bad idea to start advertising vaping in place of cigarettes to help people quit smoking.

While vaping is marked as an alternative to smoking, it not only delivers higher

levels of nicotine to your brain, but also exposes extra harmful chemicals, like heavy

metals, that cigarettes don’t have.  Cigarettes provide a good amount of chemicals

beyond nicotine, but because of flavoring in the vapes, it is prone for kids to becoming

addicted, which is when the problem starts because their brains are still developing. 

According to Hopkins Medicine, nicotine may be as addictive as heroin and cocaine.

John Hopkins researchers state that nicotine “links to chronic lung disease and asthma,

as well as associations between dual use of e-cigarettes and smoking with cardiovascular

disease. You’re exposing yourself to all kinds of chemicals that we don’t yet understand

and that are probably not safe.”

    In general, the purpose of ads is to retarget to your audience or to increase awareness of your brand. As part of the First Amendment, commercial speech is included as part of free speech, but it’s not protected as much as it is with political speech.

    That being said, smoking has a high risk of death; there are limitations included when displaying an ad for the use of smoking. As much as smoking ads should be banned, they technically aren’t breaking any laws. Banning smoking ads forever isn’t realistic because of the popularity smoking has, but there should be restrictions on what you are putting in the ad to encourage smoking.

    Thank You for Smoking not only made me realize how social media can benefit a company, but also the implications of social media marketing and ads. Whenever you see an ad, especially a sensory ad, it automatically triggers a craving.

    Furthermore, when the ad is purposefully looking “pretty” or “aesthetic” to a younger audience, it’s going to look convincing enough to buy it, which can eventually lead to addictive behaviors. This is why certain ad types should be labeled as “dangerous” because of the effects it can have for any age group. The more sporadic we are with social media marketing, the more risks we face. Nick Naylor had a way of marketing smoking that led to a successful business, but it’s a good example of how success within business can lead to backlash.