As a person who lives in Romania , but has relatives in Boston and went to the US several times, it is a huge culture shock how rare I see cigarette smokers and how bad americans seem to think it is. I am not saying cigarettes are good, it’s just weird that cigarettes are still smoked everywhere on the street in countries like Romania , Turkey or Iran and they’re pretty much still seen as very cool by the younger generation , while the U.S. it’s the exact opposite
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When the US government learned that cigarette companies knew that smoking cigarettes caused cancer but lied about it and covered that secret up, those companies were punished by having to fund advertising campaigns that told the truth about how bad smoking is for your health.
As such, there’s been a major push in the US to get people to stop smoking, especially because second-hand smoke can give cancer to people who just live with smokers and don’t smoke on their own.
Because they are horrible for you and everyone around you.
What’s weird is countries like Romania where it’s perfectly cool to destroy your lungs and smell bad.
Cigarettes work for two reasons, and only two reasons.
1) Advertising and 2) Addiction.
If you take those two away there is no reason anyone should smoke.
3 decades of anti smoking campaigns, and smoking being banned in most puplic places.
The US has had massive advertising and educational campaigns to try to prevent smoking, and they’ve been very successful. I’m in my mid-30s, and I have been getting anti-smoking education since I was probably about 7 or 8 – they start early and it goes through adulthood.
Now in the US cigarettes are pretty much stereotyped to be kind of trashy. If you watch old movies you’ll see lots of glamorous people smoking, but in modern movies it seems pretty relegated to criminals, any sort of “trashy” character, and just a quick trope to show that someone is really stressed out. You don’t often see normal people smoking in Hollywood movies these days.
1. They cause cancer.
2. They are not well respected among the elite, hence why alcohol, something the wealthy are more likely to do than the poor is not banned/taxed at 1980s levels despite being about as bad as cigarettes’ from a society perspective.
3. Hollywood has phased out use of cigarettes’ to be cool and a major lawsuit in the 90s caused the cigarette companies to pay huge fines to US states who used the settlement to start anti-smoking initiatives. Any attempt to improve the image of smoking will result in a similar lawsuit, hence why they try to do stuff abroad.
4. People view smoking as a personal space/health issue. Second Hand Smoke is taken very seriously. Its not just health-nuts and smoothie-binging-yoga-freaks. Lots of people do not want to be next to smokers in a public setting, live next to a smoker, or spend considerable time with one.
So even though alcohol usage, drugs, and obesity have become bigger public health issues in the last 30 years, smoking has been a bright spot in getting people to stop doing it.
Because its bad for you.
Also because only minority of Americans smoke- its easier to villianize something that only some people do. Much harder to do the same with alcohol since almost everyone does it.
Because you’re gonna give yourself cancer and get a hole in your neck and die. Woopee. Really flexing on us that something is cool in the Islamic dictatorship hellhole of shit that is Iran or Turkey. Stop smoking. Take a few hundred showers and brush your teeth for a few months and maybe you’ll get the stains out.
Cigarette smoke is used to ward off Americans, sorta like how garlic and holy water is used to ward off Romanians, or so I’ve been told
I never met my grandfather bc he died of emphysema before I was born. Americans are educated on the negative effects of smoking from a young age, but many of us didn’t even need that. we see it in our own lives.
Socially, they’re also extremely discouraged. Cigarettes smell bad (it’s actually pretty common to find people who won’t date smokers for this reason), they’re expensive, and they’ve been banned from many public places to protect people from second hand smoke, so they’re very inconvenient. I am baffled at their continued popularity in other countries. What is the appeal?
Cuz it’s a tumor causing, teeth staining, smelly, puking, habit.
Because it’s really bad for you.
Ty for your responses <3 . It is truly weird , in Romania every ,,cool kid” or bully has a cigarette in his mouth , most kids starting at 12 or 13 , in my school you literally see 12yr old smoking marlboro red’s at every school break.
Also, in Romania, at high school we still have an ashtray and smoking place for students that was actually built by the teacher’s! Bet that’s a culture shock!
The US has run very effective anti-smoking campaigns.
Some of us have also lost grandparents and other loves ones due to a lifetime of usage of cigarettes.
Certain groups in the US tend to have higher smoking rates.
Poorer people, military folks, people working fast paced and very stressful jobs like the fast food industry, etc.
The nicotine industry also took a hard hit when they got smacked by the FCC for advertising to children. Now their advertisements are highly regulated.
Cigarettes smell absolutely disgusting. You’re likely nose-blind to it if you smoke. But anyone who doesn’t smoke thinks smokers smell bad…and it makes your house/car/everything you own smell bad too.
There’s no reason to smoke. It killed my aunt at a young age, it’s obviously terrible for you, and here – most people will think you smell. There’s just very little incentive to start smoking now.