Netflix Kept Showing Smoking in TV Shows Despite 2019 Pledge, Study Finds | Hacker News Reader

Netflix Kept Showing Smoking in TV Shows Despite 2019 Pledge, Study Finds

forbes.com

19 pointsnuker26 comments

It would be a little ridiculous if The Queen's Gambit, set in the 60s, and Stranger Things, set in the early 80s, didn't have smoking. Those were some smoky damn decades.

It is wild when you watch a movie in the 80s-90s and see people casually smoking in a mall or restaurant. Amazing how quickly that changed.

I spent the day with my Dad who wanted to watch a classic cricket game from the 80's - it was totally wild seeing coaches, commentators and even bench warming players smoking the entire game, on a field covered in cigarette advertising.

It looked horrible, but games today are exactly the same with sports gambling. I wonder when the view on that will change.

I'm not even that old and I remember smoking and non-smoking sections in restaurants. You could still smoke in bars when I was in college.

What about latest sci-fi show 3 Body Problem? The year is 2024 in it.

According to IMDB, the show is rated "TV-MA", so not really "aimed at younger viewers"

Edit: I just noticed that some of the other show mentioned in the article also have this classification. So I guess this is not relevant.

I’ve always thought tobacco companies had some influence on Netflix’s programming. The scenes where smoking is involved are usually set up so the whole ritual is seen (take the pack out, maybe tap it, pull it out, light and take your first big inhale with all the sounds and smells that come with it). That’s the ritual that many smokers know and has for sure influenced my cravings when I was trying to quit smoking a few years ago.

I bet you havent't seen the guns in the movies. /s

The 2012 surgeon general report linked in the article goes into depth about the debate on this topic and the research that has been done into the effects of smoking in films on children:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK99238/#ch5.s78

Are there any shows with casual vaping in them or is it that uncool?

Now that you mention it, I’ve yet to see anybody look cool while hitting a vape.

Vaping has neither the danger and cavalierness of smoking nor the struggle of fighting the good fight that patches represent. They’re a meek indulgence mostly associated with teens and douchey vapebros.

Mostly a visual / associative thing though because scant few people have anything less than a dislike for the smells of cigarette smoke.

Lots.

10 years ago - house of cards [0] showed Kevin Spacey vaping.

Also True Detective season 2 [1]

[0]https://youtu.be/tduSghkW_UA

[1]https://youtu.be/EL3AuyOfBtI

True Detective season 2 is the only time I've seen vaping on a show.

The Gentlemen. IIRC, the idiot older brother was a frequent vaper.

I just started watching 3 Body Problem, and in first 20 mins smoking scenes are non-stop.

Just picked up this book, looking forward to it.

I don't have a problem with it personally. Take this idea to the extreme are we going to not show anything in movies that we don't want to advocate for as a society? ie. theft, speeding, violence, etc etc. I'd prefer cinema be given the creative freedom.

Creative freedom is fine. Problem is when it is clearly a product placement and used way more often than for purely creative purpose.

And a for a very evil product.

Fair point.

>Take this idea to the extreme are we going to not show anything ... that we don't want to advocate for as a society?

It's already absurd. News sites and police are not releasing photos and detailed descriptions of suspects because it would "purpetuate racist stereotypes".

Isn’t there just something romantic about a cigarette?

Sure, they make you smell worse a dirty vacuum cleaner, and they’ll probably kill you, but think of the aesthetic!

You joke, but I think about this relatively often. There really is something cool about the aesthetic of using cigarettes. I also think about a related but opposite problem of helmets, for instance for bicycling, skateboarding, or snowboarding. Something so essential looks so goofy, and this surely hinders usage. I wonder what it would take to make them switch places, culturally.

A legal mandate that all helmets must stylistically descend from Daft Punk?

I don’t know about helmets, seeing one clip like this [1] instantly makes them look cool and makes anyone not wearing them look like a complete idiot.

Cigarettes get to bypass our monkey brain “you’re an idiot for doing that” because a singular cigarette won’t do severe harm, and the harm from smoking is non-imminent at some nondescript moment in the future.

I think part of the aesthetic appeal of cigarettes is they take situations that are passive and make them seem active. Two people having a conversation? No, two people going for a smoke and coincidentally talking. A girl modeling? She’s not posing, she’s just smoking and someone took a candid picture of her. Beth Harmon reading a book in bed? No, she’s smoking and happens to read a book.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b9yL5usLFgY&pp=ygUOSSBsb3ZlIGh...

From what I've gathered, cigarettes provided a sort of time out... an opportunity for spontaneous interaction... the interaction that open floor plans were supposed to provide.

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