Reaction Paper On Smoking In Movies

Usually, on television shows or on magazine articles there has to be an advertisement promoting cigarettes. Not only does the tobacco industry encourage teenagers to start smoking, but it enforces smoking to continue well on into their adulthood.

Have you ever heard the term “tobacco”? Chances are you have. We are taught about tobacco as adolescence and the effects it has on the human body. Impacts that are so great it turns our bodies into grotesque machines that run on this chemical. Have we forgotten the photographs of blackened lungs and yellow-brown teeth from our sixth grade text-books? It seems we have. 15.7% of all American teenagers smoke. 5.6% of all American teenagers use a smokeless tobacco products. These numbers are at an all-time low, but don’t you think we can do better? I know we can. In 2013 a percentage of 17.8 adults smoke. About 3.5 percent of American adults use a smokeless tobacco product. Need more convincing? Half of all cigarette smokers’ deaths are caused by smoking. Over 6

Over the last few decades, tobacco and nicotine prevention efforts have risen to an all time high. Prevention efforts focus on education to the public of the negative effects on one’s health when using tobacco and nicotine products, as well as with pleas to healthcare policymakers to increase restrictions on product manufacturing and sales. One policy effort growing in popularity in the United States is called Tobacco 21, which proposes to raise the legal age of purchase for consumers of tobacco and nicotine products to 21 years of age (Farber, Pakhale, & Neptune, 2016). Farber, Pakhale, and Neptune (2016) state that 90% of tobacco and nicotine users begin smoking before the age of 18, with 99% of users starting before the age of 26. Lower smoking cessation rates are associated with earlier ages of initiation and the tobacco industry is known to target youth in advertisement of these products lending to the early age of initiation. The tobacco industry themselves admit that increasing the age allowed for purchase to exclude youth would substantially effect their sales. Tobacco 21 laws also deter adolescents from gaining tobacco or nicotine products from friends 18 to 21 years of age, which is the most likely age group to supply younger teens. With this knowledge, placing tighter restrictions on consumers younger than 21 years of age, using the Tobacco 21 policy, may deter tobacco and nicotine initiation in hopes to prevent individual use at all in the future (Farber

middle (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011-2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS). In 2014, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle (3.9%) and high (13.4%) school students. Between 2011 and 2014, statistically significant increases were observed among these students for current use of both e-cigarettes and hookahs (p<0.05), while decreases were observed for current use of more traditional products, such as cigarettes and cigars, resulting in no change in overall tobacco use. Consequently, 4.6 million middle and high school students continue to be exposed to harmful tobacco product constituents, including nicotine.” (Arrazola

In fact, the tobacco industry has suffered ever since antismoking advertising has begun (Johnston, p. 107). According to statistics, 4 in every 10 Americans who are in 12th grade have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 10 consider themselves current smokers. As well as, 1 in 5, 8th graders have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 16 consider themselves current smokers (Johnston, p. 107). Now that society is aware of the harms of tobacco, it is important to decrease such rates of smoking amongst youth. Not only are there commercials about the risks of cigarette smoking, but also there are commercials that promote living above the influence of all drugs, including alcohol and marijuana. Lastly, as research continues to improve, and new drugs arise it is important to keep youth educated on the risks of using such drugs. It is important to keep our youth safe from the dangers of

In our communities, the youth can easily identified any of tobacco’s product. The author, Steven Reinberg, published , Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens, Study Says, states that the tobacco product, Marlboro, is highly purchased by high school students according to usnews.com. Mr. McGoldrick states that the three brands, 90 percent is being marketed. Most companies hold their ground saying that their tobacco products are not meant to bought by youth, but somehow still managed to in our children’s hands, in his article, Tobacco Companies Targeting Teens, Study Says (steven Reinberg). According to Erin Brodwin, author of “Tobacco Companies Still Target Youth despite A Globally Treaty”, states that children all over the world can identify the tobacco brands. Not only are children picking up their ideas from television, but also from public. Children knowing which brands shows how serious the addiction can be. Seeing how easily the product being shown to the youth is another way of starting. If less smokers are seen in public, the lower the numbers will

     During the 1040's and 50's smoking was popular and socially acceptable. Movie stars, sports heroes, and celebrities appeared in cigarette advertisements that promoted and heavily influenced teens. Influence also came from Television and other media sources. The desires to be accepted and to feel grown up are among the most common reasons to start smoking. Yet, even though teenagers sometimes smoke to gain independence, and to be part of the crowd parental influence plays the strongest role as to whether or their children will smoke, Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), 1991. Children are exposed to and influenced by the parents, siblings, and the media long before peer pressure will become a factor. Mothers should not smoke during pregnancy, nicotine, which crosses the placental barrier, may affect the female fetus during an important period of development so as to predispose the brain to the addictive influence of

The Institute of Medicine found that children, who are born between 2000 and 2019, would suffer 249,000 fewer premature deaths and 45,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer, when the legal age to purchase tobacco is increased from 18 to 21 years old (atg.wa.gov 2016). Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S, which causes many chronic health complications such as heart disease, cancer, and lung disease (atg.wa.gov 2016). Raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21 in Washington state will decrease the use later in adult life specifically, ages 15 to 17 who are targeted the most through tobacco companies due to their vulnerability and gives loyalty to a specific tobacco company from the addiction of nicotine. Needham, Massachusetts campaigned to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 in 2005 and won. Results are already compelling, showing that between 2006 and 2012 Needham’s high school smoking rate dropped more than half among girls and boys (atg.wa.gov 2016). Given that nicotine can be such an addictive drug and be seen to be used as a coping mechanism, specifically ages 15 to 17 through their developing stages of life, needs to encounter harder access to get their hands on tobacco products. According to the Center of Disease Control, one in 13 Americans age 17 or younger alive today are estimated to die prematurely due to the effects of smoking (atg.wa.gov 2016). Raising the legal age to

To that end, finding an extensive list of celebrities who speak out against adolescent smoking proves challenging; thus, suggesting intervention rest in the hands of public health professionals and physicians working in the private sector. The Air It Out program exemplifies a design, which was developed based on a particular

If warning kids of the future health risks of smoking is a successful way to keep them from smoking then why does the US Department of Health and Human Services report that 34% of Kentucky high school students smoke? It isn't. In fact, ads that focus on smoking health risks are proven to stimulate the rebellious and curious nature of youth (ScienceDaily 1).

The media and the entertainment industries have a major impact on smoking. With the help of movies and television, smoking seems

Smokers have almost twice the risk of having coronary heart disease as nonsmokers. Smokers' risk of getting lung cancer is approximately 14 times than that of nonsmokers. It has taken many years for tobacco products deadly effects to be scientifically documented. Tobacco companies spend approximately $14 million a day on advertising. Students who own cigarette promotional items are more than four times more likely to begin smoking, compared to those who do not own these items. Eighty-six percent of people between 12 and 17-years old who smoke prefer the three most heavily advertised brands. Only about one-third of adult smokers choose these brands. Almost ninety percent of adult smokers began at or before age 18. A recent study showed that thirty-four percent of teens began smoking as a result of the tobacco company's promotional activities. Tobacco companies loose 3,000-5,000 customers each day, more than 1,000 die from using tobacco as intended, the rest die of other causes. The tobacco industry targets 1.63 million new smokers a year to compensate for those that quit or die. The average age of new smokers in the United States right now is 12. Since the 1980s, big tobacco companies have supported a number of efforts to reduce youth access to cigarettes at retail. Thirty percent of teens that smoke say that they were able to obtain cigarettes from retail stores. Thirty-two percent of kids who smoke say they borrow

Cigarette advertising has changed throughout history from how it has been advertised, what is being advertised, and who the intended audience is. In the 60’s seeing a cigarette advertisement in the Sunday paper would just be like any other advertisement, but recent generations would be appalled to see such a gruesome product being publicized. The annual deaths from smoking cigarettes are increasing each year and doctors and scientist are teaming together to try and help prevent more. Realizing that advertising may be playing a role the controversy over cigarette advertising has lead to the censoring of harmful products in other public advertising which still has a lasting effect today.

In fact, for some reasons smoking is used as a shorthand in fiction to say that someone is “living on the edge”. It’s probably started in the time of the 40’s Film Noir (genre of crime dramas), but it can also be clearly seen in many movies and TV shows such as Mad Men, where the whole cast including the women, smoke to accurately depict the American culture of the 60s. Furthermore, in the TV series Friends, the so known “uncool” Chandler gained little respect by smoking when all others hated it and he was again “living on the edge”. Through out these series and movies, I have also found that characters portrayed as the non-smokers were seen as the “Stop Having fun

The risks of expossing youth to smoking through the media increase as the years pass. It's said that in a few years deaths resulting from youth being exposssed to smoking in movies and televisions will become greater than deaths caused by drunken driving, drug abuse, criminal