# Smoking on tv **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 14, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950 "2016-03-14T04:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/1 "2016-03-14T04:41:01Z")
DrDeth is all butthurt about cigarettes on tv, but a mod says we can’t discuss it in that thread. What I find interesting is DrDeth’s cognitive dissonance regarding the issue: > [@New Show: Lucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-show-lucifer/744247/158): > > Every single puff on TV is paid for. > [@New Show: Lucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-show-lucifer/744247/171): > > Because Big Tobacco got caught giving Payola to the Movie and TV industry to portray smoking in a cool and glamorous light, and so it was made illegal to do that. Pick one or the other. You can’t have both. Either Big Tobacco pays for product placement, or it’s illegal for Big Tobacco to pay for product placement. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/2 "2016-03-14T04:51:39Z")
Maybe they’re getting around the law some way. “Hi, I’m from Phillip Morris, the tobacco company – we make cigarettes – and I’d like to pay your production company two million dollars if you’ll do product placement shots, prominently showing frogs. You know, green amphibians. Yes, our tobacco company would be very grateful if you’d have frogs in as many establishing shots in your movie as you possibly can. I never said a single word about cigarettes. Gosh, it’s nice doing business with a producer who knows how to read between the lines.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/3 "2016-03-14T05:46:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Maybe they’re getting around the law some way. > > “Hi, I’m from Phillip Morris, the tobacco company – we make cigarettes – and I’d like to pay your production company two million dollars if you’ll do product placement shots, prominently showing frogs. You know, green amphibians. Yes, our tobacco company would be very grateful if you’d have frogs in as many establishing shots in your movie as you possibly can. I never said a single word about cigarettes. Gosh, it’s nice doing business with a producer who knows how to read between the lines.” Well, they can pay for _smoking_, just not product placement. And yes, \*\*Trinopus \*\*they do that also, and apparently have. Not to mention bags of cash, nose candy and the like. and for those that say placement stopped: [http://scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/v...77&context=mlr](http://scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/v...77&context=mlr) The question is- Big Tobacco lied to us about cancer, about heart disease, about product placement- \*do you think they have stopped lying? \* Smoking in films & TV is up. Coincidence? So OP- what do you think will stop Big Tobacco from lying and breaking the law? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/4 "2016-03-14T06:43:12Z")
I think you’re a raving lunatic, but I do concede that it’s hard to argue with your cite: > [@](#): > > Not Found > > The requested URL /cgi/v…77&context=mlr was not found on this server. > Apache/2.2.16 (Debian) mod\_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1 Server at scholarship.law.umt.edu Port 80 ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/5 "2016-03-14T08:02:34Z")
I think arguing about whether the _devil_ is a good role model and should therefore not be seen smoking is ludicrous. He’s supposed to be a bit of a wanker, to put it mildly. The fact that there may or may not be a long term character arc about his redemption is irrelevant to this point. Is “big pot” getting money for the roaches getting passed around? What about the liquor industry? Lucifer owns a nightclub. Lots of boozing. The fact that all of these things, not just any one of them, are indicators to the audience that our anti-hero is “not a nice guy” seems to be completely lost to **DrDeth**. Good lord knows (ha, ha) who is getting the kick backs for the punishments and pysychological torture. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/6 "2016-03-14T08:23:36Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > I think arguing about whether the _devil_ is a good role model and should therefore not be seen smoking is ludicrous. He’s supposed to be a bit of a wanker, to put it mildly. The fact that there may or may not be a long term character arc about his redemption is irrelevant to this point. > > Is “big pot” getting money for the roaches getting passed around? What about the liquor industry? Lucifer owns a nightclub. Lots of boozing. > > The fact that all of these things, not just any one of them, are indicators to the audience that our anti-hero is “not a nice guy” seems to be completely lost to **DrDeth**. > > Good lord knows (ha, ha) who is getting the kick backs for the punishments and pysychological torture. I don’t have the full context of the discussion, but in any case I don’t think that a tobacco company would care for their product placement involving a “good” character- they’d want a “cool” character smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/7 "2016-03-14T11:56:19Z")
I think it’s Big Marijuana paying Fox since he’s shown smoking pot. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/8 "2016-03-14T12:10:30Z")
This may come as a shock to some, but people _do_ still smoke. I haven’t visited the original thread but I don’t understand the thinking that the only reason that characters are shown as smokers is due to anything deeper than the fact that _people still smoke_ 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/9 "2016-03-14T12:12:17Z")
Smoking commonly seen on TV and funded by Big Tobacco? Is it 1955 already? My, how the time flies. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/10 "2016-03-14T12:38:04Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > This may come as a shock to some, but people _do_ still smoke. I haven’t visited the original thread but I don’t understand the thinking that the only reason that characters are shown as smokers is due to anything deeper than the fact that _people still smoke_ 😕 The character is Lucifer. He was immortal. There were no consequences to his actions. He can drink, smoke, get shot, do drugs, all with no ill effects. As the story progresses he finds he is becoming mortal so he’ll have to deal with not being indestructible. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/11 "2016-03-14T14:52:36Z")
FWIW, I’m a smoker who has never seen _Lucifer_, and anecdotally it appears to me that smoking on film is way, way down. The other day my wife even pointed out how weird it was that the character Hilly from _The Help_ is shown smoking and drinking while driving near the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/12 "2016-03-14T15:15:39Z")
I definitely agree that smoking is less visible in movies and tv. It makes sense because less people are smoking IRL. However that doesn’t mean that nobody smokes so I guess I wasn’t following why Dr. Deth would attribute a character’s smoking to some shenanigans on the behalf of Big Tobacco. Now that it’s been explained the character in question is \*Lucifer \*(my new, Sweet Baby), that claim sounds doubly stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/13 "2016-03-14T15:16:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I think it’s Big Marijuana paying Fox since he’s shown smoking pot. Lucifer is also show having straight sex with his therapist. Wait a minute. Big Marijuana (AKA Big Dope)? Straight Sex? Uncle Cecil is in on it, too. Connect the Dot, People! ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/14 "2016-03-14T16:16:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > FWIW, I’m a smoker who has never seen _Lucifer_, and anecdotally it appears to me that smoking on film is way, way down. The other day my wife even pointed out how weird it was that the character Hilly from _The Help_ is shown smoking and drinking while driving near the end of the movie. Not that I have a problem with it, but its actually amped up on TV. The Americans, The Magicians, DC’s legends of Tommorow, House of Cards, Lucifer, and Shameless, The walking dead to name a few. In the case of The Americans and DC, its been to establish a period, the 80’s and 50’s to be exact, and you would have expected to see smoking in that context. So far its been mainly context, and not culture, so it should not be treated it any differently from smoking weed or drinking alcohol on TV. Declan ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/15 "2016-03-14T16:19:48Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Not that I have a problem with it, but its actually amped up on TV. The Americans, The Magicians, DC’s legends of Tommorow, House of Cards, Lucifer, and Shameless, The walking dead to name a few. In the case of The Americans and DC, its been to establish a period, the 80’s and 50’s to be exact, and you would have expected to see smoking in that context. > > So far its been mainly context, and not culture, so it should not be treated it any differently from smoking weed or drinking alcohol on TV. Don’t forget The Walking Dead with their wall to wall, plot-centric smoking. Which is weird, since two years into the apocalypse, I would think most of those cigarettes would be stale as shit. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/16 "2016-03-14T16:23:10Z")
Post-apocalyptic Boston is full of cigarettes in _Fallout 4_. There’s a pack on practically every horizontal indoor surface in the game. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/17 "2016-03-14T16:24:26Z")
To summarize the original thread, Dr Deth just randomly put in a statement that Big Tobacco was lining FOX News’s pockets. There was no context, no bridge, and no justification for what it had to do with Lucifer. We asked what the hell it had to do with the price of tea in China, and drama ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/18 "2016-03-14T16:26:48Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Don’t forget The Walking Dead with their wall to wall, plot-centric smoking. Which is weird, since two years into the apocalypse, I would think most of those cigarettes would be stale as shit. Actually I did mention them , but left out z nation. Smoking sets a retrospective scene in a shot, your eyes are drawn to the cigarette(s), give the actors a close up , and the dialogue takes over. In that situation its a cheap special effect. Also given their circumstances, it would be an old world luxury. To be able to do something that’s normal and pedestrian. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/19 "2016-03-14T16:32:48Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Don’t forget The Walking Dead with their wall to wall, plot-centric smoking. Which is weird, since two years into the apocalypse, I would think most of those cigarettes would be stale as shit. Huh. I quit watching at S3, but I don’t remember anybody smoking on TWD. Then again, I guess that being in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is as good a excuse to start as any. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950/20 "2016-03-14T16:45:57Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Actually I did mention them Reading is hard! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-tv/748950.md?page=2)