When you hear the word, “cigarette,” several images might come to mind including the glamourized version of smoking from old Hollywood with actors and models endorsing the products in public as well as in their films and onstage at concerts. Today, people do not have the same perception of smoking as they once they did with the different warnings on package labels, advertising, as well as public bans. However, that view could change again as people could see the appeal of smoking with different types of cigarettes being used on TV, movies, and by music artists from old fashioned and retro brands to E-cigarettes that put a new twist on how some see smoking as being fashionable.
Television and movies: famous characters who smoke
The controversy of smoking on television and in movies comes as no surprise and this debate has been going on for a very long time and the TV series hit “Mad Men” keeps the spark going with their Lucky Strikes cigarettes. There is always a shot of one character or another smoking during the episodes during filming for the pilot episode alone, John Hamm (Don Draper) used total of 74 prop cigarettes. To do several scenes from different angles, the cast will use several prop cigarettes that are herbal cigarettes with rose and marshmallow leaves. Retro is back and the chain smoking characters of “Mad Men” have brought back a glamourized view of smoking by successful businessmen.
Other A-list Hollywood actors have played a variety of different notorious characters who make smoking look cool as well from the high school sweetheart Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) in “The Breakfast Club,” tough guy Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) in “Fight Club” to glamorous Grace Faraday (Emma Stone) in “Gangster Squad.”
Is Smoking Coming Back into Fashion
The constant music scene
Musicians, whether veterans or up-and-coming top 40 artists, have also created an image around themselves that includes smoking cigarettes. For example, when have you not seen Keith Richards with a cigarette or about to chain-smoke another one? Even though the knowledge that smoking is bad for you cannot be avoided, musicians smoke on-stage while at concerts or while out at a party. It’s part of their image, but wouldn’t you think smoking would mess around with their vocal chords? Sometimes it can give a raw edge to their vocal chords for a particular sound on an album or while performing live. Some artists like Adele simply love to smoke despite everything else and it was very difficult for her in 2011 to try to give it up to save her voice and improve her health. Smoking is part of the music scene and musicians continue to uphold that image.
A new smoking trend?
Besides smoking herbal cigarettes, there are other alternatives including the latest trend of e-cigarettes. Many celebrities are taking up smoking e-cigarettes in place of the traditional cigarette or cigar. Customers and advertising endorsers include Jenny McCarthy and Simon Cowell. Unlike traditional cigarette smoking, e-cigarette vaping as a licensed nicotine replacement and as a way to help quit smoking. What makes smoking e-cigarettes appealing to celebrities and fans alike is the fact that they do not contain tar or tobacco and you “light” it by heating the water-based liquid solution with an atomizer device. The vapor mist that comes out because of the process resembles smoke from regular cigarettes.
E-cigarettes last longer, cheaper, and reusable so that they reduce the number of used butts left on the ground from littering. This new trend helps smokers reduce the number of smoking breaks and tobacco smell that is left on their hands and in their mouth after use. E-cigarettes were already mentioned in the Johnny Depp film, “The Tourist,” and it might not be long until they are regularly seen in other movies as well as in television and by musicians on stage.
This is a post by Ashley Williamson. Ashley is a freelance writer and an occasional guest-blogger. When she is not working she likes to travel and do yoga. If you have any question feel free to leave a comment.
