Smoking

The media, especially cinema, have been projecting images of sexy smokers for years, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct being a classic example. A single ciggerette has connotations of glamour, cool and seduction. So what makes a thin white tube full of nicotine and other stuff sexy??? Or is it the person smoking it that makes it so sexy??
If a haggard old tramp was smoking a ciggarette, would it make us think smoking is sexy? Probably not. The fact that Sharon Stone is beautiful and dressed in chic garb is what rubs off on the cigarette. Its that "if that ciggarette makes her look sexy, then I want one" sort of thing. At the end of the day, its the way tabacco makes its money.

However these connotations are becoming less common as more and more anti-smoking adverts are being bombarded on telly. But has it put people off smoking? Or are these pedantic ads only encouraging smokers to continue in rebellion?? According to BBC News Health, it hasn't. Apparently, ads that glamourised smoking in cinemas encouraged young people to smoke. And most people on a forum agreed that the anti-smoking adverts didn't encourage them to stop (check links at bottom).
I don't think any ban or advert will encourage smokers to stop.Smokings an addiction and addictions are hard to break out off, despite how many images of clogged up arteries and large warnings they push in smokers' faces. The only way someone's going to give up is by will-power and personal choice alone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6741707.stm
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-6860.html