Thank you for Smoking essay

 “Why is the U.S. government the best government in the world?” There are lots of reasons I believe our democracy is the best, but others may not agree. The answer really lies in how persuasive someone can be. ”That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong.” This is a stand-out quote from the movie Thank you for Smoking. 

The movie explores the ethical issues and the role of lobbyists in promoting products. Nick Naylor, the protagonist, is a lobbyist and Chief Spokesperson at Big Tobacco. He lobbies for cigarette companies, while trying to be a role model for his son Joey. He meets every week with other lobbyists from alcohol and firearms industries, calling themselves the MOD (Merchants of Death). He fights the anti-smoking campaign from Senator Ortolan Finistirre who is trying to get cigarette companies to put the skull & cross bones picture and warning on their packaging. The underlying theme questions how far are you willing to stretch your morals and ethics before it’s too far? The movie also makes you think about what is legal vs. ethical. The legal side is that Nick has the right to defend the cigarette industry because of freedoms under the First Amendment and the concept of commercial speech (any communication in advertising/marketing that promotes a product/service). On the other hand, the ethical side says that it’s wrong to encourage people to do something that causes harm or even death.

The main character Nick agrees to meet with journalist Heather Holloway. They get close and he shares inside information on his lobbying. She deceives, and exposes him in an article that she publishes. This is where ethical questions are presented.

He later receives threats, gets kidnapped, and barely survives a fatal nicotine overdose. These events, along with bringing  his son to several meetings, makes him question his life decisions. In the end, he starts his own lobbying firm “Naylor Strategic Relations” supporting companies that have morally questionable products. A quote from Nick in the movie is “there will always be people trying to tell you what to do and what to think. Think for yourself, and challenge authority.” This ties to the First Amendment and the concept of Commercial Speech.  

My first question when watching the movie was “What is a lobbyist?” I didn’t know what it was until I looked it up. Their role is to be a bridge between the business and government to get favorable policies, prevent harmful regulations, and educate lawmakers on their industries' economic impact. They’re always trying to get the best outcome for the company. I thought the movie was interesting because Naylor is quite a character to analyze. He’s defending a product that kills people, but you can’t help but be a little impressed by how he spins and flips every argument by showing how public relations and his lobbying persuade the public. 

It was very eye opening to see what goes on behind the scenes between companies and laws and regulations. Most consumers don’t know about the risks of products and all the efforts to hide potential dangers and how companies manipulate messaging.  It doesn’t seem like much has changed with controversial topics of today. 

Some products you hear about today like AI, e-cigarettes, Beats headphones, and airpods have all been in the news about potential dangers and risks. Using Beats headphones as an example, if I were a lobbyist, I would focus the product positioning not on the potential risks, but all the positives, and how they’re in compliance with any safety, or regulatory rules. A lobbyist pitch might sound something like this to promote them: 

 

(This pitch was generated using ai source: gemini.google.com). 

Supporting evidence for this position is also found from well-known health agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who claim that bluetooth headphones are safe to use because they emit extremely low levels of non-ionizing radiation. There is no explicitly established link between the non-ionizing radiation from bluetooth devices and cancer. (SOURCES: The Advocate News, Recharge Blog) Based on these articles, one would think they’re safe. 

Another example is e-cigarettes. Lots of controversy on the safety and marketing for this one. Like the movie Thank you for Smoking, it seems like e-cigarette companies look the other way from research findings on health risks of vaping. The concept of freedom of consumer choice and capitalism makes room for questionable products to be available, or even targeted to groups such as teens. Big companies see the profits and negotiate about warnings and restrictions need to be included on packaging and marketing even when science has evidence of the dangers. This article, How E-Cigarette Companies Manipulated the Government and Burned America’s Youth discusses how companies like Juul work with lobbyists to systematically undermine the federal government’s attempts to regulate e-cigarettes. “The real cost of vapes” is a counter campaign by the FDA educating teens about the dangers of vaping and providing resources to quit. Here is a medical report about Public Health Consequences of E-cigarettes 2018. Based on these, I would argue that e-cigarettes should be heavily regulated. Here is a potential health advocates pitch:

 

(This pitch was generated using ai source: gemini.google.com). 

With all of this information, in the end, you have the liberty and free choice to buy or not buy these products. The choice is yours. While I was writing this paper, this ad came on and I would’ve never paid attention to it otherwise. Take a look, they make a pretty compelling argument that hunting is a good thing. Ethical? Legal? Moral? You decide. I wonder what PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would say? 

SOURCES: 

Links for headphone use

https://www.audibel.com/preventative-care/can-headphones-cause-hearing-loss/ https://www.recharge.com/blog/en-au/au/are-bluetooth-headphones-safe-the-science-on-radiation-health

https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/your-health/living-well/myth-or-truth-bluetooth-earbuds-and-brain-cancer-risk https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/louisiana_health/bluetooth-headphones-and-hearing-health/article_5af1ce7f-6239-446b-a05e-aeae0fc2f4e3.html

Links for e-cigarettes 

https://www.ucs.org/resources/how-e-cigarette-companies-manipulated-government

https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/tobacco-industry-marketing/4-marketing-tactics-e-cigarette-companies-use-target https://therealcost.betobaccofree.hhs.gov/vapes?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23394084139&gbraid=0AAAAACtOMdJVA9BmtvzlujEM89uEXXGwG&gclid=CjwKCAjwvNfSBhBiEiwAyaGMCVB7X_jn5wiph7T0Ilb4aURSbc7YmslK9HJW2t3B6aKMmUhA6nmZqxoCDtIQAvD_BwE

https://www.nationalacademies.org/projects/HMD-BPH-16-02

Ethical Hunting 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6QhI-AFKnAQ&ra=m

Working outline and Notes 

Movie Notes

• Main characters: Lobbyist for Guns (Bobby Jay Bliss), Alcohol (Polly Bailey), and Cigarettes( Nick Naylor) Reporter (Heather Holloway), Senator (Ortolan Finistirre)

• It starts off with a 15 year old freshman that quit smoking and diagnosed with a very tough kind of cancer 

• Nick Naylor - vice president of the Academy of Tobacco Studies. Chief Spokesman) 

• All of the lobbyists get together every week over drinks to share stories and notes throughout the movie. 

• “If they were to claim cigarettes weren’t addictive, they need proof” 

• Nick said “there will always be people trying to tell you what to do and what to think. “Think for yourself, and challenge authority.”

• There was a question introduced. Nick: “Why is the U.S. government the best government in the world?” but, “What constitutes the best government?” “Crime, Poverty, Literacy?” The point he is trying to get at is, how well you can argue your point of view. 

• Jeff Megall (Hollywood Producer) to try and get movie stars to smoke onscreen again: “Whatever information exists is out there, so people should decide for themselves”. “To decide for them is morally presumptuous.” 

• Nick: “It’s my job, I’m a Lobbyist” 

• How far can you stretch your morals and ethics before it’s too far? How far are you willing to push your own morals and ethics? 

• The reporter and nick got very close, disclosed things to each other, and exposed him 

• The point of Liberty. It is the change to an argument from talking about the dangers of smoking, to freedom of choice, and personal responsibility 

• The thread throughout the movie was about advocates for the dangers of smoking to get cigarettes to put a  skull & cross bones picture and warning on their packaging. The whole effort of getting imagery onto packaging instead of words is powerful because people react 80% more to imagery than words.

• Words don’t address everyone's language barriers, images do 

“Why is the U.S. government the best government in the world?” I would say yes, others may say no. The answer really lies in how persuasive someone can be. ”That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong.” This is a stand-out quote from the movie Thank you for Smoking.  

Section 1: 

Movie Description - Nick Naylor is a Chief Spokesperson, and VP of Academy of Tobacco Studies, & lobbyist, Chief Spokesperson at Big Tobacco. He lobbies for cigarettes, while trying to be a role model for his son Joey. 

• He meets every week with his friends from alcohol and firearms calling the group MOD (Merchants of Death) 

• He fights the anti-smoking campaign from senator Ortolan Finistirre

• Journalist Heather Holloway gets close to him and exposes his secrets

• He receives threats and get kidnapped 

• He survives a fatal nicotine patch overdose 

• He then redeems himself by testifying to Congress (senator Finistirre) 

• Starts his own firm “Naylor Strategic Relations”

Get a few quotes from the movie: 

Nick said “there will always be people trying to tell you what to do and what to think.” “Think for yourself, and challenge authority.” 

A question that came to mind & What I found interesting was… 

How far can you stretch your morals and ethics before it’s too far? How far are you willing to push your own morals and ethics? The scenes where the journalist Heather Holloway and Nick Naylor met up with each other. She was willing to sleep with him only for her benefit to get all the information to release her paper. 

The scene where they are testifying, and another gentleman explains the whole effort of getting imagery onto packaging. Instead of words because 80% of people react more to pictures than words. The reason for this is, words don’t address everyone's language barriers, images do. 

Section 2: 

• Get a few quotes from the movie: 

Jeff Megall (Hollywood Producer) to try and get movie stars to smoke onscreen again: “Whatever information exists is out there, so people should decide for themselves”. “To decide for them is morally presumptuous.” 

• How it relates to class:  

• The thoughts of Legal vs. Ethics come to mind. Legal: Naylor has the right to defend the cigarette industry because of freedoms under the First Amendment. Ethically: it is wrong to encourage people to do something that causes harm/death. 

• Commercial speech - any communication (advertising/marketing) that promotes a product/service. what you say to sell a product to convince people to buy it. (Ex. Nick meets Jeff Megall (Hollywood Producer) to pay a studio to have well-known actors smoke his cigarettes in an upcoming movie.) 

• I had to learn what a lobbyist was: Their role is to be a bridge between the business and government to get favorable policies and regulations for their industry. It is also to educate lawmakers about the industry or business. They act as a strategic bridge between businesses and government, working to secure favorable policies, prevent harmful regulations, and educate lawmakers on their industry’s economic impact. Always trying to get the best outcome for the company with laws and regulations. 

• What are today’s issues In comparison of what they were talking about in the movie (tobacco, alcohol & guns)?: 

• The movie Exposing what most consumers don’t know about what happens behind the scenes of understanding the risks of products 

• The things you hear about today, but don’t know everything about, makes me want to pay closer attention 

• Social media, ai, vaping, beats, airpods, we don’t know how much harm they are doing/can do to us. 

• It even hinted as something about cell phones, and how it is affecting our brains 

• You seem many of these products promoted in advertising, marketing, and movies 

Section 3:

• My thoughts about the movie and what I learned from it: 

I thought the movie was interesting! Nick is a character I haven't seen before, and he’s . He’s defending a product that kills people, but you can’t help but be a little impressed by how he flips every argument by showing how public relations and lobbying persuade the public. After watching the movie, It made me think of 

"Look, we all want to protect consumers, but let's look at what's actually happening in the market. Millions of Americans rely on personal audio like Beats every single day—not just for entertainment, but for remote work, education, and mental well-being.

When it comes to concerns about hearing health or RF exposure, the reality is that the technology is already highly regulated, safe, and built with consumer protection in mind. In fact, Beats products comply strictly with all FCC exposure thresholds and global safety standards. Furthermore, our premium over-ear designs and advanced noise-canceling technology actually protect users by blocking out ambient noise. This allows people to listen at much lower, safer volumes than they would with low-quality alternatives that force them to crank up the sound.

Restricting innovation in this space doesn't make people safer; it just takes away the tools they use to stay connected, focused, and productive. The real solution isn't over-regulation—it's continuing to support the smart, self-limiting safety features and high-fidelity tech that premium brands are already delivering."