JUST ONE PUFF...

BY: NAFEESA JOHAR

There was a time when smoking was termed as the icon of cool. The leather clad heroes and the queens of the silver screen all looked incomplete without the little white stick in their hands. But not anymore.

Recently we have been seeing a continuous decline in the concept of celebrity smoking or celebrities endorsing such products publicly or off-screen. The once much glamorized phenomenon that was adopted by almost every teenager has now been shunned by celebrities and deemed extremely harmful for their personal and professional life. But has it effected teens yet?

Earlier advertisements showing rugged men in shiny cars, a cigarette in their mouth and women by their side were posted all over the world encouraging youngsters to follow suit. Indeed the first Marlboro advertisements featured cowboys smoking in a barn with the slogan “The Marlboro Cowboy” printed all over the cigarette box. According to The University of Minnesota Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center 60-80% of the teenagers between the ages of 13-18 had started smoking the time when the first dozen cigarette advertisements were aired. These seductive ads not only persuaded first time smokers to give it a try but assured the on-going smokers that smoking was still “in fashion”.

A 24 year old student Ali says that he had first started smoking when he was just 12 years old, after his friends had told him that it was cool. “I was encouraged by my class mates to join them in their after school smoking session. I had seen them smoking before and it seemed cool to me so I joined in”. What started as a puff or two quickly turned into an addiction as Ali says that now he can’t give it up no matter how much he wants to.

Ramsha another student says “My male friends smoked long before I did, but then my female friends started the habit too. They got a lot more attention from the guys. A friend of mine dreams of losing weight by smoking as she had seen some model do the same. It’s pathetic to see them waste their lives”.

According to an article published in people.com in 1998 former Calvin Klein model Christy Turlington was diagnosed with emphysema at the age of 26, soon after which she quit smoking. The disease was diagnosed after she had started to shed a lot of weight and had visited the New York hospital for a voluntary scan. Now she has started campaigning against smoking.

In 2004 U.K had put a ban on celebrities who smoke on-screen which was later on followed by U.S.A in October 2009, because it encouraged teens so much. The after effects of smoking were displayed publicly when close up shots of stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Johny Depp, Shahrukh Khan and Bipasha Basu were taken having patchy skin or bloodshot eyes. Celebrities were reported developing lung and heart related diseases. In June 2008 Amy Winehouse, was diagnosed with early-stage emphysema- a disease that strikes people above 40 years of age. The then 24 year old singer said that it had been due to her addiction to smoking and drugs. Similarly the original Marlboro Man, actor David Mclean died in 1995 due to lung cancer caused by excessive smoking. All these incidents were caused due to extreme smoking habits. Now the oh-so-cool trend seems more sleazy than stylish.