This was actually the show I thought of, but for the opposite reason. I often see episodes of Miami Vice (a quintessential 80’s-era show) on one of the obscure cable channels, and I was astounded when I stopped for a brief time to see how much smoking Don Johnson was doing. It wasn’t even for character development, except perhaps as a part of his “cool” persona. He would just frequently light up, often times while at HQ.
I would argue that smoking was still a normal activity on TV through the 1980’s, as it was in the rest of society. Restaurants still had “smoking” sections, airplane seats included little ashtrays, and you could still find a popular mainstream show with a character who unabashedly lights up his cigarettes.
Don Johnson drew a lot of criticism for smoking on Vice; I’d guess that was the main reason he “tried to quit.” (Did he ever really? :dubious: )
I remember Mickey Rourke smoking like a chimney in late '80s/early '90s movies. One of his costars (Kim Basinger?) said kissing him was like licking an ashtray.
Same thing with Bruce Willis. I damned near gagged watching him puff away in the Die Hard movies.
It did take a long time for some people and institutions to come around. In the late '80s, I had to complain loudly to keep some smokers out of a nonsmoking section of a restaurant while I was there with my older daughter. And they were just soooooo put out, poor things! :mad: (Hey, it was Wisconsin! Not just Wisconsin, but Milwaukee!)
Idiots would smoke in Greyhound buses between Milwaukee and Minneapolis all the time, even when we were parked at rest stops.
In 1995 or so, Finnair still had a smoking section on their flights. I once had a seat just forward of one, and my clothes stank when I got off the airplane. (They banned smoking altogether about a year later.)
The workstations at NASA’s old Mission Control all had built-in ashtrays (and I’m sure lots of cigarette burns on the surrounding Formica). It all seems so … quaint today. Watch the documentary footage on Apollo 13 sometime, and you’ll see all the engineers in the room chain smoking.
The part where they cut to this very curly headed, mustachioed guy who appears to be playing keyboard, and then come back out with Dave saying thanks to “Paul Schaffer” really threw me.
People also urinated, do you see much of that? People usually had bad teeth- but everyone has bright shining choppers (unless it’s a bad guy).
*A memo to John Dean III of RJR from Frank Devaney of Rogers and Cowan on 12 April 1990 clearly demonstrates that the firm was still very active in the area:
“Today, the presence of cigarettes and smoking situations are considered a vital part of our program. Subliminal reminders are still used. Such things as providing merchandise with brand identification for studio based golf tournaments, prizes for studio picnics, other social gatherings and cast and crew jackets are still effective toward this goal.
“The placement activities continue, but today we are very restrictive as to the story content, the potential audience and other factors that do not subject our placements to negative response, and continue (to support) the acceptable smoking (i.e. smoking by adults) which is still a regular part of many viewers lives.
“We have also developed a strong sampling program, which now provides 188 industry leaders and stars with their favorite brands each month. This group provides support to the intention of the program to continue smoking within the industry and within the productions they influence”63[emphasis added].*
And here’s a important line :“Tobacco use in movies, which was falling through the 1970s and 1980s, increased significantly after 1990” Filmmakers somehow ignored people smoking when they weren’t being paid to promote it.
I’ve seen conversations taking place around urinals. If it works for the movie, it works.
And your cites confirm that tobacco use has been compensated for in movies, but that doesn’t lead to the claim that it worked that way in Boardwalk Empire.
My thinking is that it shouldn’t be inserted where it might not be accurate, for coolness’ sake, or as a compensated product placement.
But… if the movie’s set in an environment where smoking was commonplace, or involves historical characters known to smoke, then there’s no reason to deliberately distort things for the sake of censoring smoking.
For example, if you do a movie about something set in the 1930s through the 1960s, it’s appropriate to show a great deal of incidental smoking, as quite a few people (most men, IIRC) smoked in those days. I mean, Monuments Men was historically accurate in terms of the smoking, and if anything, probably didn’t show enough smoking relative to how people smoked in those days.
I think a lot of people these days are relatively unaware of how prevalent smoking was, even as recently as the mid-1980s. Nowadays, less than 20% of adults smoke, and smoking is restricted almost everywhere. Back in those days, it was 30-40% of people who smoked, and it was nearly unrestricted. The only thing that I think stopped people from smoking in a lot of places was the availability of ashtrays. Having a character fire up a cigarette in a movie set in the 1980s wouldn’t be inappropriate at all, but having a majority of characters smoke might be unusual.
In the mid 90s there was an attempt to ban smoking in Pittsburgh (Allegheny County) bars. A friend owned a bar/music venue where the smoke was typically so thick I’d walk around outside periodically to get fresh air. I do not use tobacco. It was horrible having to shower after seeing a band.
I helped my buddy fight the ban, and we won! Immediately after winning the fight, he voluntarily went no smoking. Win-win.
This article references a 1998 settlement that “stopped tobacco companies from buying on-screen brand placements.”
I have no idea how vigorously those regulations are enforced, or if the tobacco companies are getting around the ban, but at face value your assertion appears to be incorrect for the last 17 years.
The persistence of smoking in movies is probably due to the persistence of smoking among actors and/or the attitude that smoking is still considered a useful prop for giving “depth” to a character (such as by showing him or her being rebellious, cool, or anxious).
If you read my cites, it seems clear the the tobacco industry is quietly ignoring it’s voluntary agreement by “gone underground or second hand. Tobacco companies sell other products, which buy advertising. Cash. Cocaine. Hookers.”
I thought you were joking when you first referenced “Cash. Cocaine. Hookers” (sorry, Kayaker), but now you’ve quoted it, so I’m not so sure. I don’t see the reference in your cites, though, and I suspect a wooshing noise is in the air.
Actually, this cite of yours doesn’t support your argument that tobacco companies are still paying for product placement:
Which is to say, there is still smoking in films, but it doesn’t appear to result from payment by the tobacco companies.
When you say “tobacco companies sell other products, which buy advertising”, I’m not clear on what you mean. Are you saying that they deliver, um, “parties” to filmmakers with the wink-wink understanding that they are in exchange for putting cigarettes in the movie? Where’s your cite for that??
I just came in to mention L&O:TOS. Lots of smoking in the first years. Now if you see someone smoking, it’s not anyone at all on the right side of the law.
IIRC, the obnoxious serial-wife-killing comedy club owner smoked cigars. I think he still smokes them in re-runs.
Like I said Big Tobacco is no longer writing checks. They pay for the placement in ways which are not directly traceable. Altho Cash Cociane & Hookers isnt confirmed, these were three of the common under the table methods of DJ record company payola.
No, that just says no one will admit getting paid off. But since smoking in film & TV has increased since the agreement, it’s clear payola is going on. Sure Big Tobacco denies it, but they also denied smoking caused lung cancer.:rolleyes:
RJR used to be part of the same company as Kraft foods. So Kraft would simply sponsor the show or movie.
If it’s a voluntary agreement then who cares if it’s ignored? Plus, hey, cash, cocaine, and hookers.