kidney_thief

First video I thought of was The Police: "Every Breath You Take," although
it's just the image of a cigarette in an ashtray and not in someone's mouth.

I believe the Rolling Stones have featured smoking in their videos, this is
one that I found right off the top--I'm sure there's plenty more:

VEGANGELICA

I investigated a little to see how cigarette companies have historically paid for or encouraged the use of cigarettes in music videos.

I found an informative abstract of a research paper that looked at the connection between the tobacco and entertainment industries. Researchers read more than 1500 documents on the relationship between the entertainment industry and Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson/American Tobacco, the Lorillard Company and the Tobacco Institute from 1972 - 2001.

They found that tobacco companies used to have contracts with producers and celebrities (whom they paid to use their cigarettes) but now simply offer free products as props since the introduction of a 1980's Cigarette Advertising and Promotion Code:

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Mekemson and Glantz (2002) "How the tobacco industry built its relationship with Hollywood," Tobacco Control, vol. 11, pp. 1-11
How the tobacco industry built its relationship with Hollywood

"The tobacco companies have found product placement in movies, television and music videos to be good advertising for the young audiences. In addition, the reports showed that the tobacco companies frequently give free products to celebrities in the hopes that they will be seen smoking them. The tobacco companies have had contracts with movie producers and with specific celebrities for use of their products. While the public appeal of cigarettes waned over the years, the tobacco companies tried to keep their image alive by giving away free products to industry leaders.

"When the Cigarette Advertising and Promotion Code was introduced in the 1980’s, these companies stopped paying for product placement and advertisement and switched to providing free props and items with the company logo.

"Conclusion: The tobacco industry has been able to find a way around the laws saying that they cannot pay for advertising in movies and television targeted toward young audiences. They have, instead, chosen to give away free products for use by celebrities in movies and in daily life. As the reputation of cigarettes goes down in society, the efforts of the tobacco industry increase."

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My suspician is that cigarette companies view smoking in music videos as a good thing even if the company's logo doesn't show up, because smoking in videos creates a norm where smoking is acceptable. From the perspective of a cigarette company, the fact that *any* positive smoking imagery (attractive people smoking; beloved and admired rock stars smoking) is included in music videos probably helps maintain cigarette sales, so it won't matter if the cigarette brand doesn't show.

Bun E. Carlos...I had wondered what the drummer's name was and if he was still alive given all his smoking!

Someone who saw him in concert years ago wrote, "Bun E Carlos was chain smoking when I saw him in 81 and every now and then the cig would go flying and the sparks from the head would flow all over the area by the drums." Cheap History | San Diego Reader. Sad. Seeing Bun smoke reminds me of being caught in my grandma's car as a child while she smoked and I snapped at fresh air through the window I cracked open.

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Oh, good catch with "Every Breath You Take"!

I know the song well but never saw the video until tonight. And there it is: the long cigarette smoldering in the round ashtray containing many butts until the ashtry converts into the head of the snare drum. This would be the perfect image for portraying the sinister linkage between smoking and music videos.

Now when I hear the song, all I can think of is the woman replying, "When I'm with you, every breath I take is labored because of the smoke from all those damn cigarettes you smoke!! Your poor heart is probably aching not because of me but because of the COPD you're developing! Please, please, please quit, because until you do, I can never belong to you." COPD - MayoClinic.com


The Police - Every Breath You Take - YouTube

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