Cigarettes are making a comeback.
While the number of Americans who smoke is at an all-time low, cigarettes seem to be popping up all over Hollywood and on movie screens.
Dakota Johnson, Walton Goggins, Sabrina Carpenter and Phoebe Dynevor are just some of the celebrities lighting up for the cameras.
And while it may only be their characters who have the bad habit, experts tell DailyMail.com that on-screen smoking could slow or even ‘reverse’ decades of progress.
Just one in 10 American adults regularly smokes, a significant dip from 40 percent in the 1960s, when the habit was seen as fashionable and a status symbol.
And just four percent of children and teens have picked up a cigarette compared to one in three in the 1990s.
While cigarettes were once considered a common prop in old school cinema, they started being phased out of media around the 1970s. And in the past decade, networks and streaming services have faced mounting pressure to remove tobacco imagery from programs geared toward young people.
But recent research shows smoking on screen has up to doubled in the past several years, especially in shows geared toward Gen Z and Gen Alpha, even after filmmaking giants like Netflix promised to scale back.
Dakota Johnson is seen smoking as Lucy in ‘Materialists.’ It’s one of the latest movies bringing smoking back to the big screen
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter smokes in her music video for the new song ‘Manchild’
And celebrities perpetuating the habit could shield young people from the known health risks, as they can afford access to top-shelf plastic surgery and treatments to ward off the consequences.
Dr Nzinga Harrison, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at Eleanor Health, told DailyMail.com: ‘Extensive research has shown a clear link between the portrayal of smoking in media and increased likelihood of smoking initiation, particularly among adolescents and young adults.
‘While smoking rates are at historic lows, especially among teens, re-normalization of smoking through popular culture could slow or even reverse this progress by increasing its perceived social acceptability.’
In 2022, the latest data available, 11.6 percent of US adults reported smoking cigarettes, a 65 percent drop from 42.6 percent in 1965.
More recently, rates among adults have fallen 17 percent in the last five years.
And the youth smoking rate in 2022 was just 3.8 percent, down 86 percent from the late 1990s.
Rates started falling around 1964 after the US Surgeon General released the first report on what are now well-established health risks like lung cancer, heart disease and dental decay.
Cigarette ads were banned from TV and radio a few years later in 1971, and public spaces started implementing ‘no smoking’ rules in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Starting in 2007, the Motion Picture Association encouraged studios to get rid of smoking from youth-rated films due to pressure from anti-smoking groups.
By 2019, Netflix announced it would remove it from all programs rated TV-14 and PG-13 or under.
However, recent research paints a different picture.
Phoebe Dynevor is seen smoking as Emily in the film ‘Fair Play’
Pictured above is Sarah Jessica Parker with cigarette in hand in ‘And Just Like That’
A 2024 report by anti-tobacco group Truth Initiative found the number of tobacco depictions in streaming shows popular among 15- to 24-year-olds doubled in 2022 compared to the year before. This exposed 25million Americans in that age range to on-screen tobacco use.
The team found the surge was largely driven by Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,’ which contained one third of all tobacco depictions.
Additionally, the number of tobacco depictions in binge-watched shows nearly quadrupled.
Six out of seven streaming networks all had increases in tobacco imagery that year, with the only outlier being NBC.
And despite its 2019 initiative for youth programs, Netflix more than doubled its tobacco imagery in 2022 compared to 2021. It also included cigarette use in the film Cobra Kai, which was rated TV-14.
About half of the top 15 streaming shows among 15- to 24-year-olds contained tobacco in some form.
In 2022, nine out of 10 Best Picture Nominees, except for Barbie, featured some form of tobacco imagery, up from seven the year before.
Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist in New York City, told DailyMail.com: ‘When young people see celebrities or popular characters smoking regularly, it can create a misleading impression that smoking is not as harmful as public health campaigns have taught us.
‘The media plays a powerful role in shaping social norms. Glorifying or repeatedly showing smoking risks undermining decades of progress in reducing tobacco use, especially among youth.’
One 2024 study of high school students found teenagers who never used tobacco or other nicotine products were nearly three times more likely to try them if they saw social media posts of celebrities or influencers using them.
And a recent survey from Truth Initiative found 37 percent of adolescents who start smoking do so because they saw depictions of it in movies.
Walton Goggins (pictured here) is often seen smoking while playing Rick Hatchett on season three of ‘The White Lotus’
Seth Rogan is seen smoking on the set of ‘The Invite,’ directed by Olivia Wilde
Dr Harrison told this website increased smoking portrayal in the media can ‘send the message that the behavior is glamorous or harmless.’
He added: ‘This is particularly misleading because celebrities often have access to elite healthcare, cosmetic procedures, and resources that can mitigate the visible and medical consequences of smoking.
‘Most Americans do not have the same safety net as celebrities, leading to increased risk of negative smoking-related health consequences over time.’
Smoking is still, for example, responsible for nine in 10 cases of lung cancers, America’s deadliest form of the disease.
Alpert said preventing health harms from smoking starts with re-examining measures taken decades ago to get cigarettes off the screen.
He told this website: ‘While it’s unrealistic to expect all portrayals to vanish, a more mindful approach from content creators could help—limiting glamorized smoking scenes and including clearer messaging about the harms could prevent smoking from regaining popularity.
‘Ultimately, the goal is to protect young people from starting a habit that’s difficult to break and carries serious long-term health consequences. Media has the responsibility to balance storytelling with public health awareness, given its significant influence.’
