Let’s talk about real-life for a second. In recent months, vaping has really taken a hit. Once promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, e-cigs and vaping has come under fire. There has been roughly seven vaping-related deaths due to vaping in the past few months. This has caused lawmakers and parents everywhere to scramble. Despite the fact that roughly 480,000 people die a year from smoking-related illnesses in the United States [according to the CDC], the vaping issue seems more prevalent. Everyone, including the president; feels like this is the battle they must fight. The thing is, though; we’ve already seen the battle against nicotine and tobacco products. Cigarettes may be more expensive, the ads aren’t how they were in the 50s, and there’s surgeon warnings, but the CDC says about 34.3 million Americans smoke, as of 2017. Even if that number has dropped in two years, it’s not by much.

Thank You for Smoking

This brings me to the movie that I want to discuss for this Throwback Thursday. 2005’s ‘Thank You for Smoking’ starred Aaron Eckhart and was the satirical black comedy based off a 1994 book under the same name by Christopher Buckley. In the movie, Eckhart plays a very charismatic tobacco spokesperson. Playing Nick Naylor, he’s so smooth-talking that he is even able to make himself out to be the good guy on a talk show featuring a cancer patient. This is Naylor’s job – spreading the good word of the tobacco-business wherever someone dares to talk poorly of them.

The Message Behind the Movie

Everything is a business. This sentiment is echoed in 2012’s ‘Killing Them Softly’ and it’s prevalent in this movie as well. While we see Naylor successfully able to buy a former Marlboro Man’s silence (after he’s been diagnosed with cancer), the tobacco industry’s true intentions are revealed in this film. The thing is, though; the movie is able to really make you think. You see how it’s possible for a business like them and other harmful industries to manipulate the consumers in their favor. The tobacco company isn’t the only business here. We meet the firearms representative, the alcohol lobbyist, and at the end, the fast-food industry’s rep. Even someone combating the claim, at the time; that cell phones were causing brain tumors. All of them are successfully able to divert your attention elsewhere and actually have you thinking, are they actually the bad guys? After all, these products are put in front of us; but no one forces us to take the bait. This is what’s explored in ‘Thank You for Smoking’. As we saw in the prohibition era, simply taking something away is not going to stop people from consuming.

Aaron Eckhart Makes This Character

Eckhart does a fantastic job in this role and it’s admittedly my favorite character of his, next to his time as Harvey Dent in ‘The Dark Knight’. Katie Holmes is also in this film and plays a very cunning reporter, who is successfully able to play Eckhart’s Naylor. Even though Naylor is the tobacco-lobbyist, Holmes’ character is possibly the villain here. Representing media, who is the biggest diverter and seller of lies when they want to be. At the end of the movie, Holmes’ Heather is dealt with her own brand of justice. The movie does a good job, albeit too good really; in showing you that none of these businesses are actually there for your well being. It’s a business and it’s all about money and power.

Rating: 4.5/5

The moral of the story? Perhaps how important marketing is. Underneath it all, ‘Thank You for Smoking’ is a huge example of how far marketing can push a narrative. I love this movie and it still sticks with me all these years later. Eckhart is fantastic and it’s perhaps a little disappointing that he has not been in much in the past ten years. Make sure you check out this movie and let me know what you think.