Celebrities Are Making Smoking Cigarettes Cool Again Among Young People

[RAMROD 111,376]

 

The stars are lighting up again. 

“Need a cigarette to make me feel better,” crooned pop star Addison Rae on her 2025 single “Headphones On,” while Lorde sang “this is the best cigarette of my life” in her own 2025 release, “What Was That.” Sabrina Carpenter was recently photographed wearing a corset made of Marlboro Gold packages, and sells shirts with song names emblazoned on mock-ups of cigarette boxes and lighters. 

On the silver screen, about half of all movies that made their debut last year included appearances of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products, up 10% from the previous year, according to a new report from public health nonprofit Truth Initiative and research organization NORC at the University of Chicago.

With more actors, pop stars and other celebrities spotted unapologetically smoking, the cultural taboo against it shows signs of ebbing. That worries antismoking advocates, who fear a reversal of the yearslong decline in U.S. smoking rates.

“I find that concerning, glamorous, attractive people smoking cigarettes,” said Ollie Ganz, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, whose research focuses on tobacco. 

While U.S. smoking rates are hovering at their lowest level in decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously said that smoking in movies contributes to increased smoking rates among young people. “Youths heavily exposed to onscreen smoking imagery are more likely to begin smoking than are those with minimal exposure,” a 2019 CDC report found.

To some, cigarettes now have a retro appeal. 

Maddie Bell, a 21-year-old college senior in New London, Conn., said she grew up knowing the risks of smoking. By the time she was in high school, cultural figures like the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas had her intrigued. “Cigarettes looked cool,” she said.

Bell picked up smoking over the past year, she said, sharing cigarettes with friends after weekend parties. Following a semester in Europe earlier this year, her occasional weekend cigarette became a routine. 

“That’s when I went from being drawn to nicotine to it becoming a real habit,” Bell said. Her favorite brand is Marlboro, but she said she prefers Natural American Spirit’s roll-your-own tobacco because it is cheaper.

Jared Oviatt, who runs an Instagram account called @cigfluencers, has been chronicling celebrities smoking since 2021. He said he started the account because he and his friends always thought smoking cigarettes was cool.

“I would argue antismoking campaigns were too effective,” said Oviatt, who said he buys a pack every few months. “That paved the way for vaping. When vaping became uncool, it paved the path for cigarettes.”

Oviatt said he started the account after seeing a photo of British singer Dua Lipa smoking. He recently featured a shot of Lily Allen smoking in a nun outfit, along with Charli XCX and her husband sharing a smoke at a restaurant after their wedding, still in their formal wear. Oviatt’s caption: “This is my royal wedding.”

On Saturday nights in the East Village, Columbia University graduate student Amira Hakimi often sports platform Dr. Martens boots, a sparkly top and her pink Bic lighter. The 22-year-old said she smokes twice a month, usually after long nights of partying.

“You step out of the bar, you feel all that cold air, and it’s quiet,” Hakimi said. “That’s the moment that everyone’s like, ‘Oh, we should smoke a cig.’ ”

To Hakimi, vaping is corny. “Smoking cigarettes is a very timeless act,” she said.

For Matthew Daniel Siskin, a creative consultant who has worked with craft cigarette brand Hestia, younger—though still legal-age—consumers are among the brand’s top customers. Hestia’s cigarettes, derived from American-grown tobacco and bearing the tagline “Naked, Wild, Tobacco,” are popular with younger smokers.

“There’s something about smoking out of my window,” said Siskin, 43, who works with artists and musicians. “It’s what we did before we looked down at our phones. You’d say ‘Hey do you have a light, do you have a cigarette?’ ”

Bell, the college senior, said she now smokes one or two cigarettes a day. “For me, a huge part of why I’m into smoking is because it’s a very social thing.”

Ideally, Bell said, she would quit. “But I guess it’s a habit. It’s hard to kick.”

https://www.wsj.com/health/cigarettes-popularity-celebrity-smokers-345a8de3?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdew0jSTV24SVFEF0jI5WsvRyYJNRg9XrjMI9UYJRVLuB5H6MAASk8_PNQA3do%3D&gaa_ts=69253111&gaa_sig=7qflWIqhqA8DP6zGNOTDG6P6t81693FEVFWBb9XZ4ueSJoZ2ethdm8ZsyRVxI0zy-iNZiVtuf6eTqueFUxy-Bw%3D%3D

[Lord Mayhem 1,814]

Good thing I know better and not even Gaga could convince me to take up smoking...

It's an aesthetic...I get it but I'm not "influenced" to smoke or drink just because others do it...I make up my own mind and have personal boundaries about what I put into my body.

[faysalaaa 4,999]

Smoking is considered cool which is why artists smoke

[River 119,570]

It only looks cool in the mind of the smokers.

Been there.

Now I'm on the other side and smokers looks like a smelly addicted losers who never finished high school, burning their money, choking everyone around them.

Cigs should have been illegal long long time ago, it's an addictive drug.

[TSUNAMI 21,152]

9 minutes ago, River said:

It only looks cool in the mind of the smokers.

Been there.

Now I'm on the other side and smokers looks like a smelly addicted losers who never finished high school, burning their money, choking everyone around them.

Cigs should have been illegal long long time ago, it's an addictive drug.

Sis you should really tone down with offending people based on the fact if they smoke. Saying smelly is one thing... but other things are straight up hurtful.

 

[River 119,570]

8 minutes ago, TSUNAMI said:

Sis you should really tone down with offending people based on the fact if they smoke. Saying smelly is one thing... but other things are straight up hurtful.

 

Well it's hurtful when they smoke near me, on me, all over the street when I walk, at the parking, at the balconies, at the entrances of buildings, everywhere.. but the non smokers are the problem when they finally voice their opinion 

I've been a smokers, what I'm saying applying to how I see myself, my regret for the days I smoke, my lack of understanding of how much i hurt myself and the people around me..

Smokers are selfish people, I was a selfish smoker. 

 

I guess you are a smoker, how do u keep your smoke out of other's people lungs? 

when you smoke on the street and you walk, you know the smoke don't really move but stays through all over your walking path, so the people behind u, are walking through your smoke, without filters.. but smokers has the idea that the smoke magically goes up to the sky and disappear.. because it's "open space", but it's just stays for like 10 min and people breath it.

[TSUNAMI 21,152]

Just now, River said:

Well it's hurtful when they smoke near me, on me, all over the street when I walk, at the parking, at the balconies, at the entrances of buildings, everywhere.. but the non smokers are the problem when they finally voice their opinion 

I've been a smokers, what I'm saying applying to how I see myself, my regret for the days I smoke, my lack of understanding of how much i hurt myself and the people around me..

Smokers are selfish people, I was a selfish smoker. 

 

 

No, they are addicts and addiction is a disease and you should be more respectful.

If you need to call yourself disgusting, smelly, selfish, loser, money waster, etc. to keep up with your will to stop smoking - that's very ok.

But babe, don't call me names. 

[River 119,570]

2 minutes ago, TSUNAMI said:

 

No, they are addicts and addiction is a disease and you should be more respectful.

If you need to call yourself disgusting, smelly, selfish, loser, money waster, etc. to keep up with your will to stop smoking - that's very ok.

But babe, don't call me names. 

The days of respecting smokers are over

[Lisbeth Salander 190]

I find the whole idea about celebrities being responsible about young people potentially starting smoking ludicrous. It’s the parents’ responsibility to regulate that. 
 

And if a grown ass adult that smoking is cool because they saw Gaga with a cigarette - they’ve got a problem. 
 

However, I understand the whole social part of smoking. Non-smokers are not part of cigarette breaks and therefore not part of many conversations that take place there. However, one has to take a second to think whether it is more important to get some gossip than it is to take care of your health. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Lisbeth Salander

[Putang Ina Mo 2,202]

If young people follow everything they see, wether good or bad, we'd all be doomed in dumbville.

[liamgaga 537]

The idea that people, especially adults, copy sabrina because they saw her smoke makes me have no sympathy. Get a grip

 

From a smoker xo but I didn't start because I saw a celebrity do it 

[NUTELLA 13,740]

1 hour ago, RAMROD said:

Jared Oviatt, who runs an Instagram account called @cigfluencers, has been chronicling celebrities smoking since 2021. He said he started the account because he and his friends always thought smoking cigarettes was cool.

[VTV 13,012]

ew fck no

[robotvoiceinalice 1,804]

not the smoker being offended by the non smoker rhetoric in this thread   

look is it an addiction? yes. do people need help? yes. but also lets recognize the effects of smoking on other people and lets recognize how bad smoking is for you.

 

back OT: i think Gaga has come out and said she has stopped or trying to stop and doesn't advocate for them. DWAS was the aesthetic of that time period which she and bruno had for that song. I do remember getting so mad and thinking she'd lose her voice if she kept smoking so im glad she has stopped. 

i think more education need to be done if younger minds are seriously influenced by these celebs to go smoke. but also smoking never looks good even when a celeb does it icl icl 

[Nite 5,717]

I feel like smoking culture never really stopped in Germany. It got a bit less for a few years, but there are still a lot of smokers. Every time I'm stuck on a DB train and we're late the driver tells people when we're standing long enough for them to go out and smoke. It was definitely something all the popular kids did back in school and then a lot were addicted and never stopped. 

And a lot of the time smokers get to go take smoke breaks during work hours - I used to go downstairs with them at my old job because I thought why not