Movie Review: Thank You for Smoking

They’ve said that sex sells. That was true in the 1960s with the classic Virginia Slims ad and is still true today in 2026 with perfume and cologne ads and other products. The difference, however, between these two types of products: one is a chemical stick that the CDC has proven all too well to cause serious medical problems, and the other contains an alluring smell that turns heads as a person walks by. 

So, in terms of public relations and marketing, what does this mean? Do the connotations and proven effects of a product put a responsibility on the person or company who is marketing it? 

Well, in the movie Thank You for Smoking, that very question is dramatized. 

Personally, the only thing that I liked about that movie was the color grading. I always admire the look of early 2000s movies, and the hopeful and bright tone they seem to have. 

Content-wise, I think that this movie brought up good questions, but just did not quite answer them in the way that I would’ve liked.

As the movie follows the main character Nick Naylor, it depicts a cigarette marketing agency that is dead set on what any other marketing agency is: money. “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and so Naylor’s agency does whatever is possible to better popularize their cigarette brand.

This included coming up with ways to verbally manipulate and twist words in the agency's favor, surrounding their product, and what others would say about the cigarettes.

In the pursuit of new consumers, the movie suggests that certain morals are to be set aside in hopes of achieving the company’s goal. As stated before, the question arises about the moral responsibilities that the agency, or any marketing agency, has regarding the products it promotes. 

From what I observed, the movie seems to answer this question through its goal: money. For example, Mr. Naylor appears in an interview towards the beginning of the film where he emphatically highlights the fact that cigarettes are harmful and can cause cancer. Fifteen to twenty minutes later in the film, we see him excitedly preparing for a trip to potentially get a brand deal with a big movie production agency for the cigarette marketing company.

This brand deal was intended to paint cigarettes as “cool again,” with the expectation of increased sales.

 To me, using a phrase like “cool again” seems to suggest the youth. Typically, when that phrase is used, the youth, or the up-and-coming generation, is what that phrase is referring to. This means that the cigarette marketing company could have very much been attempting to target the youth with their brand deal, in hopes of more youths buying and being attracted to cigarettes. 

There is also that perpetual element of the movie where we know that each person who works for the cigarette marketing agency personally knows the dangers of cigarettes and long-term smoking, yet they are the main people who are avidly working to sell as many packs as possible. 

That is not good. That sure doesn't seem to be in the public's best interest. That does not seem to be morally right either.

As human beings, especially as people in America, which was where the movie was set, we have a lot of choices and freedoms in life. Choosing a place of work, who you work for, and what they are trying to accomplish is one of those freedoms.

Additionally, all humans have a moral responsibility for one another. Due to this, I think that the advertising agencies need to do better about what they are selling and not just focus on their profits. 

Of course, this is an ideal in an individualistic, money-hungry society. 

In the current world that we live in, unless the government places harder restrictions on the advertisement industry, specifically, on broadcasting networks and similar areas that have much room for government involvement, I see what played out in Thank You for Smoking easily continuing. 

As a current college student who is a part of the communications department, has done some marketing work before, and is emerging into the working world, this movie has appropriately brought to my attention some of the concerns that come with that field.

We have to fight fire with fire, or rather, money with more money, in order to smoke out these issues.