Smoking - Take 2
From Mod Mania
The Journey of a Killer
A middle aged woman’s mouth opens to reveal the grisly image of rot and decay, fatty deposits are squeezed out of an unhealthy, clogged aortal artery, rotting lungs are being eaten away, and an innocent newborn baby struggles for survival amongst a tangle of tubes and wires. These are not the disturbing, grotesque images of some fictitious horror movie, they are the very real, uncomfortable and confronting visual imagery flashing across our television screens every day and plastering packets of cigarettes in anti-smoking campaigns. It’s enough to put you off your dinner, but apparently still not enough to put you off your cigarette. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 10 million cigarettes are sold every minute and every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use. It was not that long ago when smoking was promoted and endorsed through advertisements and various art forms in our culture. Images of freedom and masculinity adorned the packaging of cigarettes and cigars. Cowboys, horses, countryside, and sultry looking women once took the place of the repellent, repugnant imagery of today. The journey of tobacco products through time and changing perceptions has brought with it changing techniques, demographics, products and laws but it has not brought an end. Despite all the changes, education and new scientific evidence come into light, over 1 Billion people worldwide still continue to smoke tobacco. Why have anti-smoking campaigns done so little to quell the prevalence of smoking in society and how has this dangerous, addictive activity continued and prevailed in the modern world?
Anti-smoking campaign - Smoking causes mouth cancer
The perception of smoking has been a many changing one throughout history, it has been accepted into different cultures and developed many distinctive meanings conditional to time and place. Beginning in ancient civilisations as incense burning for religious rituals and ceremonies, it was later adopted as a tool for pleasure and socializing. Since then it has grown and spread, been adapted by different cultures and, used in different ways, for different reasons and seen in different lights. Though it began as a religious practice, by the 1600s smoking had come under persistent disapproval from state and religious leaders who considered it immoral and blasphemous. Although tobacco bans and taxes seem to be only a relatively modern occurrence, they were actually first attempted in the 1700s with the threat of harsh penalties and fines. Rulers soon realised however the futility of such bans and instead turned the trade of tobacco into moneymaking government enterprises.
With the spread and popularization of tobacco smoking through the changing times, came different associations related to its use. Up until the 1900’s smoking was seen as only a male orientated activity, female smokers were rare and seen as promiscuous, associated with prostitution and were generally seen as unsuitable wives and mothers. The 20th century saw women smokers gaining greater popularity as it gave them sex appeal and with occurrence of women’s rights movements and the changing perceptions of women in society, modern times has seen the number of female smokers on the rise while the number of male smokers has stayed relatively stable.
"Grease"
"Pulp Fiction"
"Breakfast at Tiffany's"
With a black leather jacket, skin tight pants, red heels and a cigarette, Sandy Olsson has Danny Zucco falling at her feet. In the 1978 film ‘Grease’ the “goody two shoes” character of Sandy smokes a cigarette in an effort to ditch her good girl image and adapt a new sexy, exciting persona in an attempt to win Danny’s heart. Female smokers in film have long been associated with sensuousness and seductive sexuality, even earlier than this Audrey Hepburn was glamorizing the act of smoking in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ through use of the cigarette holder. The media has played a major role in the marketing of cigarettes, with indirect methods such as film and television, playing just as big a part as direct cigarette advertisement itself. The act of smoking has specific connotations linked to it, the character in a film who smokes a cigar is rich and powerful, and the man with the cigarette tucked between his lips is the James Dean or Marlon Brando, he’s the essence of “cool”, the young rebel, the image of masculinity and the one who everyone wants to be.
Marlon Brando
James Dean
Movies and celebrities can have a major influence on people, creating trends and dictating what is popular culture. Young people especially, look up to celebrities and even fictitious characters as role models and it is at this young and impressionable age, before the age of 18 when most smokers begin using tobacco products. In 1954, the 'Marlboro man' was conceived as a means of changing the perception of filtered cigarettes as feminine into one of more masculinity. This new machismo emanating cowboy image greatly appealed to the male demographic as it was this that they aspired to and there was a promise that any man could become the Marlboro man if they smoked a cigarette. To maintain this new image Marlboro as well as other tobacco companies began sponsorships in many male dominated sports like auto racing, snooker, darts and rugby league.
The Marlboro Man
Fast-forward 50 years and much has changed, no longer are tobacco products advertised or given positive associations. As time has progressed, the health hazards of smoking have become more broadly recognized and anti-smoking campaigns have gained greater influence. Because of this, conscious attempts are now undertaken to not show smoking on screen in order to avoid encouragement of the habit. In family movies especially, any depiction of tobacco smoking or paraphernalia only appear when there is a substantial reason for doing so and even then is more commonly associated with the portrayal of characters in a negative light as anti-social, immoral or criminal. These movies are sometimes even given a higher rating and always include a health warning in the end credits.
Early cigarette collectable cards
Where once tobacco companies placed collectable cards in packets of cigarettes as a means of advertisement, some now place warning cards with information and graphic imagery of the damaging effects of tobacco smoke. In 1992 in Australia the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act was put into action to prohibit tobacco advertising and the sponsorship of sporting or other cultural events by cigarette brands. In 2006 mandatory warning labels with graphic images depicting the effects of smoking cigarettes were introduced to cigarette packets. Words like 'light', 'mild', 'extra mild' have also been banned from cigarette packaging in order to offset the false notion that certain tobacco mixtures are less damaging to health than others.
Health warnings
The widespread smoking of cigarettes only became a phenomenon in the 20th century, linking to modernity and the faster pace of the industrialized world. Before this the main means of tobacco consumption was through pipe smoking which was considered to be gentlemanly and sophisticated, however now only has connotations relating to old age and being outdated . During much of the 20th century smoking was viewed as a classy and glamorous habit, as depicted in movies, however enter the 21st century and cigarettes are easily available to all and in fact WHO states “the prevalence of smoking is strongly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage.” No longer is smoking a sign of glamour and wealth, as greater knowledge on the hazardous effects of smoking are exposed, smoking rates have begun falling in developed nations and instead rising in the developing world .
Middle Eastern Hookah Pipe
The journey of smoking through times and cultures has also created a huge product market, millions of dollars are generated annually through many different avenues. There is of course the many varied ways in which tobacco is available for consumption, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, rollies and chewing tobacco being some of the most popular, each having it’s place within a social structure. The man who smokes $300 cigars is not the same man who roles his own cigarettes, which is the cheapest form of tobacco consumption. The different prices and qualities of these products dictates who is smoking what and therefore creates a social hierarchy with this group of smokers. The popularity of smoking has also created a market niche for smoking equipment and paraphernalia such as cigarette cases and holders, cigar boxes, lighters, matchboxes, ashtrays, pipe cleaners and tobacco cutters. The different means of smoking associated with different cultures such as the use of the Hookah in Middle Eastern cultures has created a vast market of different smoking apparatuses. The fading trends of different smoking equipment like the pipe have created a market based around these items which are no longer used or produced and so have become expensive antiques and collector items. A new market has been created based around the problems caused by cigarettes. The proven damages caused by smoking and rising popularity of smoking campaigns have made room for “healthier” options such as a battery powered ‘electronic cigarette’, introduced in 2004, designed to deliver nicotine to the user without many of the other harmful substances released in tobacco smoke. The problem of accidental fires caused by cigarettes has resulted in the proposal of cigarette designs which extinguish themselves when left unattended for more than a couple of minutes. Finally the recognition of smoking as a health hazard has led to the market of nicotine patches, gum and inhalers designed to help the user quit the addictive habit of smoking. Groups and online communities have also been formed around smoking, from websites detailing how to make various smoking apparatuses to the other side of the spectrum with websites like Nicorette.com.au and Quit.org, dedicated to support smokers wanting to quit.
Electronic Cigarette
The act of smoking has undergone many changing perceptions over the course of its approximately 7000 year existence. Holy, unholy, sophisticated, vulgar, healing, killing, one is proven and one remains, smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death, smoking is a killer. It seems no amount of gruesome images or shocking statistics can stop this addictive trend, in fact the saturation of such anti smoking campaigns within modern society has meant that people have actually become accustomed and oblivious to them. The advertisement of smoking has been banned but has it really? Art forms like movies and television shows still display smoking, albeit in a more limited fashion than the past, it is still a method of advertisement more powerful and far reaching than direct advertising itself, selling the character along with the cigarette. With such deep roots in the history and culture of the world, smoking is not set to become an endangered activity, instead as it continues to the future, with developing sciences and technologies it seems to be creating even more product markets. So the journey of tobacco products continues and while the habit does not seem to be dying, millions of people around the world are.
References
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cancer
http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/tobacco/smoking.html
http://oxygen.org.au/smoking-in-movies
http://www.wpro.who.int/media_centre/fact_sheets/fs_20020528.htm
Task One: Consumer Communities, Smoking. Zachary Beal
