Smoking

Some people say they “need to smoke” or they “only have a few a day” or even that they “only smoke when they drink”; but whichever of these statements fits a person best they are still a smoker. I myself cannot see the appeal. When I walk past a group of smokers I can actually feel their smoke invading my body and that is by far enough of the stuff for me. Whether I agree with it or not it is clearly portrayed in a bad light by the media today. This was not always the case, there was a time when smoking was seen as glamorous and was acceptable almost everywhere.

In “My Best Friend’s Wedding” Julia Roberts (pictured right) is seen smoking in several scenes throughout the film. Nearly every time she does so it is when she is stressed or angry. Once she lights up and smokes for a while she appears to calm down and become more rational. This seems to suggest that other than just looking appealing smoking is seen as an emotional crutch as well. It could be due to ideas such as this that smoking can be seen as somehow more understandable, as it is portrayed as good for emotional health even if it isn’t for physical health.

Supermodels such as Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell (pictured right) have been seen smoking. There have been links with smoking and hunger. It has been suggested that smoking suppresses appetite, which could be why models tend to smoke. Now whether there is truth in the claim (which this quit smoking website seems to support http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/weightgain/a/weightgainquit.htm) it is reasonable that if young people see this, as they are arguably under the most pressure to be slim, they would see smoking as more attractive and would be more likely to start smoking.

It is clear that those in the public eye can have a large effect on those who idolise/look up to them.