Hollywood, which glamorized cigarettes on the lips of everyone from Bette Davis to James Dean, has gone back to butts after cutting down for several years. According to the American Lung Association, at least one of the leads in every Oscar-nominated film last year lit up on screen. ““Smoking is the ultimate sex appeal,’’ says Natasha, 15, of Santa Monica, Calif., who cites Leonardo DiCaprio’s cigarette-wielding performance in last year’s ““Romeo + Juliet’’ as irrefutable proof. ““The way he handles the cigarette in his fingers reveals a lot about his sexuality. It’s fresh.''
Young adults dismiss the power of Joe Camel and other advertising. They say that peer pressure and, especially, the desire to rebel have much more to do with lighting up. ““The twentysomething world is told that everything is bad for us: you can’t have sex, you can’t eat bad foods, you can’t drink,’’ says Doug Liman, 30, who directed the retro, twentysomething film ““Swingers’’ last year. ““It’s overload. So now we’re just going to act like nothing is socially irresponsible.’’ Besides, young people always believe they’re invincible. ““I’ve seen the commercials where they show the old lady with the hole in her throat and the smoke coming out of it,’’ says Brooke, 15, a young Marlboro woman from Santa Monica. ““I’ll never have a hole. When I’m old and 35 and want to have a baby, I’ll quit. I’m young now, so my body can deal with it.''
If the government has its way, Brooke may be in the last generation to think like that. In a landmark settlement reached last month, cigarette manufacturers agreed to stop marketing to kids and to reduce teen smoking by 60 percent in 10 years - or pay $80 million a year for each percentage point by which it falls short. But not everyone believes that the deal, if it holds up, will end teen smoking. ““They’ll find new ways to aim advertising at kids, no matter what they say,’’ says Donald Clark, president of the American Lung Association. ““They’ll do anything to secure their future, and kids are their future.’’ Or maybe they’ll just target a slightly older demographic. In the last few years manufacturers have created specialty cigarettes - honey-roasted Sedona, coffee-flavored House Blend, additive-free American Spirit - aimed at the Gen X market that has gobbled up specialty beers and coffees. ““I like the image they project,’’ says Sean O’Sullivan, 29, a New York marketing executive who prefers Red Kamels, a hip brand that features Soviet-style imagery on its package. ““It’s very retro. It’s like the car ad: “This is not your father’s cigarette’.’’ Unfortunately, addiction never goes out of style.
The percentage of 8th, 10th and 12th graders who smoke daily is rising.
1991 8th 7.2% 10th 12.6 12th 18.5 1992 8th 10.4% 10th 18.3 12th 22.2
Source: Monitoring the future study, the University of Michigan.
PHOTOS (COLOR): Hollywood fuels a bad habit: On screen and off, stars such as DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, and Johnny Depp keep cigarettes hip
