Effects of Watching Smoking on TV and in Movies

Does Onscreen Smoking Make You Want to Light Up?

January 19, 2011

There's a reason there are laws to regulate when cigarette smoking is shown on TV and in movies: watching it is addicting. Now a new study found viewing a character smoke on screen stimulates the brain's action-planning center, leaving us contemplating a walk to the nearest corner store.

Smoking has a short but sexy history, so when you watch shows like Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire, nostalgic for a time before all the smoke got in our eyes, do you want to light up?

14 Comments

lizlee89 2 years 16 weeks

no, but I wonder why people make a big deal about smoking being shown on tv and then act like showing promiscuous teens doing stupid, dangerous things like drugs, drinking too much, or having casual sex is no big deal. the truth is that the majority of people out there are too stupid to realize how bad all that behavior is...

Bettye Wayne 2 years 17 weeks

Yeah, if they're smoking weed I do.

danakscully64 2 years 17 weeks

I don't smoke, nor would I ever again (I've had a few cigarettes a few years back), but for some reason, it triggers something. Maybe I was a smoker in a past life :P Maybe it's a similar to wanting food you see on tv or in a movie. When I saw Julie and Julia, I just had to go home and duplicate one of her recipes (mushroom in a cream sauce over chicken - used Quorn Chik'n). I craved it for days.

Burkina 2 years 17 weeks

Definately not.

Burkina 2 years 17 weeks

Definately not.

amber512 2 years 17 weeks

No, but that could also be because I find the practice DISGUSTING. Everything about it. I agree, you can't cover up that smell. It's always there.

bluesarahlou 2 years 17 weeks

Not even in the slightest. Sure, people may look sexy while smoking, but they absolutely stink. I don't care what any smoker says, they smell like rotten nasty cigarette smoke. And laying on the perfume or cologne doesn't help matters.

RoaringSilence 2 years 17 weeks

I'm not a smoker, so no. I have to say though that as much as I detest smoke around me in real life, there are some movies where people just look sexy when they smoke. Such as Jude Law in Alfie. (well, being Jude Law also helps with the looking sexy.)I have to say seeing people drink wine in a movie really makes me crave wine. Have you seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona? Ahh!

RoaringSilence 2 years 17 weeks

I'm not a smoker, so no. I have to say though that as much as I detest smoke around me in real life, there are some movies where people just look sexy when they smoke. Such as Jude Law in Alfie. (well, being Jude Law also helps with the looking sexy.) I have to say seeing people drink wine in a movie really makes me crave wine. Have you seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona? Ahh!

Pistil 2 years 17 weeks

Yeah, but I don't really think a few minutes of sexy on screen is worth a life time of health risks, never mind the financial investment, the smell, and yellowing everything.

juicebox07 2 years 17 weeks

Yes, it does.

juicebox07 2 years 17 weeks

Yes, it does.

Siberian 2 years 17 weeks

absolutely not

Siberian 2 years 17 weeks

absolutely not

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14 Comments

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