Thank You for Smoking

(Yahoo Movies. Thank You for Smoking. 26 Nov. 2007 <http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808723698/photo/606727>.

I love watching documentary films! I absolutely adore them. For our group documentary film, we watched Thank You for Smoking. The plot essentially follows Nick Taylor, vice-president of the Academy of Tobacco Studies through his public relations campaign convincing society that smoking is not all bad. His best friends are the leaders of the alcohol and gun control industry. The three of them meet regularly and call themselves the ‘Merchants of Death’, as they argue over who has killed more people. The movie follows Mr. Taylor through his PR business tour, until he finds himself in trouble with a beautiful news reporter.

I feel that the video is an excellent demonstration of how the public relations industry functions, and how easily they manipulate facts to benefit their company, and convince people to buy their product. Focus on the smoking industry is even more intriguing as it is a large, controversial issue within society. Public relations goes hand in hand with the study of media. What the media delivers to viewers is often manipulated, edited and twisted to some form of bias, even if minimal. This documentary illustrates just how this can be done, in a funny and satirical film.

After watching the movie, Sam, Stephanie and I discussed our thoughts and opinions. I felt the movie was well done, as far as entertainment goes. The main character was well played and delivered, the dialogue was quick and witty, issues were brought up directly, and both sides of the public relations industry were shown. How the industry and its employers work, along with how society reacts, and opposition takes action, is all seen within the film. For such a serious topic, they did a good job of making it an energized and stimulating film.

Despite these great qualities, I felt that the movie never really came to a conclusion. It illustrated both the good and bad sides of public relations, and the tobacco industry yet, never concluded or took a specific position. I suppose they may have intended this in hopes of allowing the viewer to make up their own opinion, instead of being told, once again, what to believe.

I felt that the discussion was important because I was able to witness how other individuals take in, and are affected by public relations propaganda. We all had similar ideas, in regards to the video’s content and output however, some people took a difference stance on the PR business. For instance, a fellow student at residence decided that the public relations industry was doing a good job and that they should not be blamed for following their career instructions, whereas I feel that following instructions is no excuse if they are misleading innocent people to potentially deadly products.

I think that the class would get a good laugh out of the video, as it is light-hearted and witty for such a touchy subject. The main character, Nick Taylor, is very sleek and smooth in his presentation of the tobacco industry, almost to the point where you may agree or not argue as much with some of his points. Moreover, it allows the class to witness public relations from the inside. We have studied what we think they are doing, and what we can take from their hidden messages in advertisements but the documentary allows for the actual inside story to be seen.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the video and feel it was an adequate and sufficient documentary for such a controversial issue.
To see the film's trailer visit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=iBELC_vxqhI