Celebrities and Tobacco Don't Go Hand In Hand

As the entire world celebrates the World NoTobacco Day on the 31st of May, it makes one retrospect in hindsight if this is just a day to celebrate or to perhaps do something else? The call should apparently be to create an awareness of the tragic consequences of the ill habit. The choice of consumption of tobacco as we know might be something which a person makes on a very individual basis, but, the effects that other factors have in instigating a similar drive of tobacco consumption in a certain human being cannot be overlooked.

These other factors that have the potential to inspire someone to take up smoking or other means of tobacco consumption, can be many folds. However, celebrities play a crucial part in all of this. It is them ultimately, who people look upon and aspire to become someday, especially the young ones. With celebrities giving us some new goals every day, it becomes their responsibility to try and moderate the things that they endorse, intentionally or accidentally.

Here are a few celebrities who have endorsed smoking and other tobacco products in one way or the other:

Celebs at the Met Gala

Look at what happened at the recently concluded Met Gala, where the major highlight, apart from Priyanka Chopra’s dress, was a number of celebrities who were spotted smoking. Despite knowing the hazards that smoking carries with itself, these Hollywood stars including the likes of Dakota Johnson, Marc Jacobs, Courtney Love among others, were found guilty of posing with cigarettes dangling from their mouths and fingertips. Over the last few decades, celebrities around the world have ignored the health risks of tobacco consumption and have constantly glamorized the ill practice.

(Image Courtesy: DailyMail)

Pierce Brosnan

We all remember when our favorite James Bond was found guilty of endorsing a Pan Masala in India, only to later claim that he was misled with the product description. In what was possibly a puny attempt at redemption, he emphasized on the fact that he thought the Pan masala was some sort of a 'tooth whitener' and that the ad company had fooled him.

(Image Courtesy: Twitter)

Barack Obama

When Barack Obama created history in 2009 by becoming the first Black President of the United States of America, he became a source of inspiration to a billion people not only in the US but all around the world. However, he too was a smoker and had publicly spoken about it. Now, he may never have endorsed smoking, but being in the position where he was, he naturally becomes an unpaid spokesperson for tobacco and that is enough to drive people who look up to him and reiterate what their beloved ex-President does.

(Image Courtesy: Heavy.com)

Ajay Devgn

In a commercial that celebrates 25 years of a Pan masala, Bollywood’s Ajay Devgn tries highlights on the saffron that is present in the product, he is endorsing, but he cannot shy away from the fact that at the end of the day, it still is a Pan Masala that comes along with a statutory health warning that says “Chewing of Pan Masala is injurious to health”.

(Image Courtesy: YouTube)

Urmila Matondkar

The yesteryear actress from Bollywood endorses a tea brand. Now, many people might argue that there is nothing wrong in that, but, to inform everyone, this is a recent onslaught that seems to have engulfed the advertising world, this concept called “surrogate advertising”. It is a practice that helps in selling the name of the company in the name of another product. For instance, the company that Matondkar endorses is the largest bidi manufacturing company in India which is capable of producing 100 million bidi sticks in a day! Although India has strict policies in place on advertising and promotion of tobacco and alcohol related products, it has no such enforcement over surrogate advertising.

(Image Courtesy: YouTube)

Obama might never have wanted anyone to take up smoking because of him, but, unfortunately, this is how the world works if you’re a celebrity. One can also not shy away from the fact that, celebrities have that fame due to the people that admire them and hence, it becomes a social responsibility for celebrities to keep a check on what they might just be selling to people intentionally or not.

Celebrities also have the power to stop people from the consumption of products containing tobacco, and a lot of celebrities have taken up that responsibility too.

Here are few celebrities that have publicly condemned smoking and also run anti-tobacco campaigns:

Jackie Chan

If your childhood hero, comes back to tell you that if you’ve been smoking as a teen growing up, then you’ve been really wrong; you would totally listen to it. The actor has been a part of an anti-tobacco initiative and “Strike back from Tobacco” is a part of the same campaign.

(Image Courtesy: Disgrasian.com)

Tyra Banks

Banks quest to fight against tobacco use is a personal one as her grandmother passed away due to lung cancer. She has very successfully used the beauty industry in order to try and create awareness against the kiss of death. Banks’ “Smoke Your Eyes, Not Cigarettes” campaign is a similar initiative to try and educate people and if possible urge them to give up on smoking. The model says, “ The only thing I smoke is my eyes”. She also has a website dedicated solely to create awareness against smoking.

(Image Courtesy: Today.com)

Esai Morales

The NYPD Blue star joined hands with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help people from the Hispanic community to reduce and quit smoking. Morales says that lung cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics and smoking accounts for about 87% of lung cancer deaths in the US and hence bears tragic consequences.

(Image Courtesy: Bet.com)

Celebrities definitely have the power to educate people and make them understand the hazardous effects that smoking and tobacco consumption can cause. But, to everyone reading this, it is a sincere request to not let other people decide for you. Just because something seems liberating and cool doesn’t deem it good for you. At the end of the day, it is your life and you have to take charge of it yourself. So this World No Tobacco Day, if you consume tobacco, take a pledge to give it up in the next 6 months, because it kills. If you don’t consume it, well great!

(Featured Image Courtesy: Cigar Aficionado)