Thank You for Smoking

The statistics are hard to ignore. It is estimated that almost five million people worldwide die prematurely as a result of smoking. Approximately twelve times more British people have died from smoking-related illnesses than from WWII. Smoking cigarettes causes about one in five American deaths. Every year in Australia more than more than 18,000 Australians die prematurely because of smoking. Basically, smoking kills. Yet über spin doctor Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) from Thank You for Smoking would have you believe differently.

A lobbyist for Big Tobacco, Naylor has the more reputable title of Chief Spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. His job is to defend the indefensible; to convince politicians, the media and the general public that smoking is not as dangerous as we are led to think. And he is very very good at what he does.

Every week he meets with his friends and fellow lobbyists Polly Bailey (Maria Bello) and Bobby Jay Bliss. They call themselves the MOD squad. As in ‘Merchants Of Death’. Bailey is spokeswoman for the alcohol industry while Bliss represents the firearms industry. Together they compare notes, tactics and the number of fatalities resulting from their products.

Directed by Jason Reitman, Thank You for Smoking is a blistering satire on the politics of spin. Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, the film explores the lengths to which the tobacco industry will go to sell their product. But it’s not only Big Tobacco and their lobbyists who are corrupt. Spin – which is often little more than creative deception – is a device used by a range of people from lobbyists to politicians. Fast food manufacturers, purveyors of junk food all use “spin” to justify what dodgy policies. Deceit is easier and more profitable than the truth.

Naylor’s nemesis in the film is the sock and sandal wearing Senator Finistirre (William H Macy). A zealous anti-smoking campaigner, Finistirre wants cigarettes labelled as poison. But despite his being the “good guy” of the piece Finistirre himself is not above hypocrisy or duplicity.

The eccentric senator from Vermont is not the only one with Naylor in his sights. Attractive investigative journalist Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes) is writing an article on the lobbyist who some refer to as “the devil”. As her professional interest becomes personal it seems that Naylor is seducing her for his own purposes. However it soon becomes apparent who is being used.

Sharply written and often hilarious, Thank You for Smoking reveals the corruption that occurs when ethics and morality are removed from the professional sphere. When one’s moral compass is the bottom line, anything can be justified. As Naylor instructs his son, “If you argue correctly you’re never wrong.”

While frequently crass and including several sex scenes, there is a moral to the film. It is the corruptibility of humanity and the scarcity of integrity.

Naylor pushes the message of self-determination – that people can decide for themselves whether or not they will smoke without the interference of politicians and the medical fraternity. But it’s self-determination subjected to intense manipulation. His answer to the decline in teenagers taking up smoking is to make it sexy. Get smoking back in the movies, especially in the context of sex.
While the film relishes its satirical outlook and refrains from moralising, it does sound a warning. We are all susceptible to manipulation.

How much? How much are we shaped by the films and TV shows that we watch, the ads we see and the billboards we drive past? More than we realise. As Christians we must be aware of our vulnerability to the ways of the world and the messages of greed, idolatry and selfishness. Our culture’s sexualisation of almost everything has an impact on the way we view our bodies and the intimacy of sex. Our media’s message that wealth and excessive consumption are our right allows us to justify greed and idolatry. It is not only cigarettes that are dangerous. 

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