As a Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a Washington tobacco lobby is masquerading as a research organization debunking the health risks of tobacco use. Nick Naylor is the public face of the tobacco lobby. As the Tobacco industry lobbyist, he faces a seemingly impossible task: promoting cigarette smoking in a time when the health hazards of doing so have become too obvious to ignore. Utilizing his natural communication skills, Nick uses argument and twisted logic to place his clients in positions of either altruistic do-gooders or victims. He comes up with the idea of re-glorifying smoking in movies, associating it with sex and reputation. His lobbyist style of promoting the use of tobacco products is exposed to the world when he becomes involved with a journalist from The Washington Post, who exposes Nick and his deceitful …show more content…
Squad, which stand for Merchants of Death. This ‘squad’ is comprised of lobbyists for alcohol, tobacco, and guns who meet to discuss which industry has killed more people. Two things said during a M.O.D. squad meeting struck me as a game changer: “Now if a plane crashes on account of pilot error, do you blame the Boeing Corporation?", and “If some booze-besotten drunk runs someone down, do you go banging on the doors at General Motors (Thank you for Smoking,2006)?” These two quotes emphasize the importance of individual choice in the blame game. If an airplane crashes because the pilot made a mistake, the airline company is not at fault, the pilot is. If some drunk runs you over, General Motors isn’t at fault, the drunk driver is. Just as with smoking cigarettes and their associated health risks, it’s not the cigarette company’s fault someone develops lung cancer from smoking, because they took it upon themselves to smoke. It is true, like Nick Naylor said, “That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong (Thank You for
“Thank You for Smoking. ?” The genre of argument. Boston: Thompson/Heinle. P. 141-143 Kovac, Rachel. A. Study Shows Ignorance of Smoking Hazards.
Scientists and lobbyists share a primary purpose; they both serve to influence the status quo. Both Alfred Kinsey, a scientist, and Nick Naylor, a lobbyist, challenge the boundaries of their society. Whereas Kinsey stimulates the sexual aspect of his society, Naylor pokes at the value of ethics in a cigarette consuming society. The representation of argument is apparent in these films; Kinsey argues for a societal change in the awareness and education of human sexuality whereas Nick Naylor defends the cigarette industry as the Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies. In the film Thank You for Smoking and Kinsey, the rhetoric of argumentation is represented by two men that share allegiance to their work; however, the motive behind their work differs in galactic proportions.
The campaign Truth focuses on giving facts, truths and statistics to its viewers to become educated on the topic of tobacco. Underneath the large text from above, the second fact states that “90% of them started as teen smokers.” Many adults that have become addicted to smoking cigarettes began the habit as teens. There are many people that believe smokers are not good people and that they are going to be ill. That is what the artist of this picture is portraying. Truth’s most recent campaign, ‘Finish It’, has a strong theme: “be the generation that ends smoking for good.” This has been presented and shown through social media and popular television shows. Through the exposure of the deathly, and eye opening facts through social media, it has been a great impact to teenagers. On Truth’s website they state that “We’re not here to criticize your choices, or tell you not to smoke. We’re here to arm everyone—smokers and nonsmokers—the the tools to make it change” (thetruth.com). Many other anti—smoking campaigns shame and make smokers feel guilty but Truth is mainly about exposing the facts and making people more knowledgeable about tobacco.
The tobacco industry seems like a beneficial addition to our economy. It has basically been a socially acceptable business in the past because it brings jobs to our people and tax money to the government to redistribute; but consider the cost of tobacco related treatment, mortality and disability- it exceeds the benefit to the producer by two hundred billion dollars US. (4) Tobacco is a very profitable industry determined to grow despite government loss or public health. Its history has demonstrated how money can blind morals like an addiction that is never satisfied. Past lawsuits were mostly unsuccessful because the juries blamed the smoker even though the definition of criminal negligence fits the industry’s acts perfectly. Some may argue for the industry in the name of free enterprise but since they have had such a clear understanding of the dangers of their product it changes the understanding of their business tactics and motives. The success of the industry has merely been a reflection of its immoral practices. These practices have been observed through its use of the media in regards to children, the tests that used underage smokers, the use of revenue to avoid the law, the use of nicotine manipulation and the suppression of research.
Laird, Pamela, “Consuming Smoke: Cigarettes in American Culture.” University of Colorado at Denver. Author of Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing. 1998
You will always be right if you can prove that the other option is wrong and you can explain why it is right to do what you did. Kidder’s dilemma paradigms can help us understand Nick’s decisions in the film. It must be understood that he is focused on doing what’s right for himself as a professional but also as a father to a young son. The choices he makes as a tobacco lobbyist may cause people to doubt his ability to be a responsible father but he is showing that he understands what the right choice is for the situation. Taking in consideration "truth vs loyalty," throughout the film it is clear that Nick is staying loyal to his boss and his job even though he has much like the rest of America 's population had education showing the dangers of smoking. This is the right decision because telling the absolute "truth" about smoking would ruin his career to a certain extent and that would make it hard to provide a good life for his son. As previously mentioned, his decision to keep defending smoking is allowing the "community" to keep their freedom of choice. The paradigm of "individual vs community" is very utilitarian oriented, he is willing to seem like a irresponsible person to the eyes of people who do not understand that he is preserving their freedom. The paradigm of "justice vs mercy" is also shown
Thank you for smoking is a satirical comedy about a lobbyist whose job is to promote tobacco use at a time when the disease burden secondary to smoking threatens to cripple the nation. The film presents how industries, media and the government interact to influence the consumers’ decision. While the use of rhetoric, such as fallacies and twisted truths, is evident throughout the film, it is most evident midway when the chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, assists his son with his assignment. The son, Joey Naylor, enquires why the American government is the best and in response, the father argues it is because of America’s ‘endless appeals system’ (Thank you for smoking). His response seamlessly captures the tone of the movie as much as it represents the extensive use of a combination of fallacious arguments and twisted truths.
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
However, Tobacco companies testified in front of the US Congress in 1994, that nicotine was not addictive or caused health concerns.” This was the beginning stages of political spin with tobacco companies not disclosing information that was harmful to the American people to maintain corporate interests and
Thank You for Smoking Rhetorical Analysis: Thank you for not smoking. The film Thank You for Smoking is an obscure jesting that follows a petitioner, Nick Naylor, for the tobacco industry. Murky comedies take a grave topic, and light the topic through mockery. A worthy example of rhetoric can be found in Thank You for Smoking, during a scene where Nick Naylor delivers an argument against putting a skull and crossbones label on every pack of cigarettes. Senator Finistirre does this during a hearing in front of a congressional committee lead by Vermont.
The Tobacco Industry Sources of Power Capital resources are the tobacco industry’s primary source of power that gives them the substantial power to control. For instance, they employ people with high-level of political connections and direct them as a board of directors. Imasco; Rothmans, Benson and Hedges (RBH); and RJR McDonald (RJRM) are the three leading companies accounted for almost all tobacco products produced in Canada (Irvine and Sims, 1997). These corporations had politician’s people on the board of directors. Particularly, the Imasco has executives that have a considerable level of political connections namely, Bernard Roy, Rob Pritchard and Paul Martin (Lexchin, 2015).
and Nick responded “Population Control. Everyone got a Mortgage to pay.” In other order words Nick lobbied for the Tobacco company not because he is oblivious to the kind of effect that cigarettes actually generated to society, rather because it pays the mortgage and keep him and his family financially
Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.
.I believe that the Tobacco industry is unethical, They provide a product that causes addiction and eventual death if smoking continues thought the majority of a person’s life. I think that the tobacco industry needs to take more responsibility for their product. I believe they should do this by not advertising on the false image of being a cigarette smoker and focus on what consumers are actually going to receive for their money when purchasing cigarettes. They should focus on the feeling it gives people, and what the cigarette experience actually is in the most literal terms. Also cigarette companies should tell costumers upfront in easy to read labels the long term and short term effects of smoking to let people clearly know what they are buying and what it’s effects are.
Every year new medical reports are issued regarding the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die every year from diseases caused by smoking. Approximately one in two lifetime smokers will die from their habit. Half of these deaths will occur in middle age. The most common of the diseases caused by smoking is cancer, of course. Not only is it a cause of lung cancer, but cancer of the larynx, and the esophagus, and it contributes to the development of cancers of the bladder, pancreas, and kidney. Lung cancer comes from the tar in the cigarettes. The tar coats your lungs like soot in a chimney. It does not make a difference if a smoker changes to low-tar cigarettes because smokers will take a deeper puff to get the same affect as a regular cigarette. This causes them to draw the tar deeper into their lungs causing even more damage. The Surgeon General requires that every package of cigarettes has one of the following statements: SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide. Despite these warnings most of the population is not aware of the other illnesses that can develop...