Smoking is Sexy

Smoking in films has dramatically changed over the years (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2005, p.51). During the 1950s, cigarette product placement in films worked as an extra marketing technique to encourage smoking. Actresses such as Audrey Hepburn (see image below) were commonly found smoking in films. Infact, when I was searching for images of her, there were many with her holding a cigarette. This implies that smoking is sexy. Average people look up to celebrities and follow their actions in hope to be more like them (Fraser & Brown, 2002, p.183). This means that when people see actors/actresses smoking in films, they want to smoke too. When the harmful effects were learned, such marketing techniques were removed from the film industry, with actors and actresses only smoking in films if it is part of their character.

Image: Aydrey Hepburn http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/16/1654/5KJGD00Z/audrey-hepburn.jpg

Although product placement has decreased, actors/actesses smoking in films still influence viewers, especially young adolescence (Distefan et al, 2004, p.1239). I interviewed a couple of teenage smokers and they agreed that movie stars may have had an impact on them smoking.

Maybe smoking should be stripped from the media?

References:

- Distefan, J.M., Pierce, J.P. & Gilpin, E.A. 2004, 'Do Favourite Movie Stars Influence Adolescent Smoking Initiation?' in American Journal of Public Health, Vol.94, No.7, pp.1239-1244, Accessed 19/09/2010, http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/94/7/1239 

- Fraser, B.P. & Brown, W.J. 2002, 'Media, celebrities, and social influece: Identification with Elvis Presley' in Mass Communication and Society, Vol.5, No.2, pp.183-206, Accessed 19/09/2010, informaworld.com 

- O’Shaughnessy, M. & Stadler, J. 2005, ‘Defining the Media’ in Media and Society: An Introduction, Vol. 3, pp. 51-54