We all know the risks of cigarette use. We’ve seen the ads as children. Body bags being dragged into the street and piled on top of one another to represent lung cancer deaths. People confined to dark, stuffy rooms, tethered to oxygen tanks, holes forever cut into their tracheas. They were terrifying. They shifted the narrative that cigarette use was cool, sexy, and mysterious, to something almost infectious. Something gross and dirty. Something deadly. This worked, for a while. Following the intense public health campaign targeting big tobacco and nicotine use amongst Americans, cigarette use has been on the steady decline in the US, falling below 10% for the first time in 2024. Its current rate of decline suggests cigarette use could fall below 6.1% by the year 2030, successfully completing the previously established target set by the Healthy People 2030 federal project and decreasing cigarette use significantly amongst Americans. 

Other countries have followed suit in advertising against tobacco use and restricting tobacco all together. Belgium recently banned tobacco use from outdoor terraces and lounges. India and Italy have both increased taxes on nicotine products. Just this year, Australia enacted the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Regulations, some of the most intensive restrictions on tobacco products to date. This legislation places a complete ban on tobacco advertising, lofty taxes on tobacco products, and prohibits smokers from smoking tobacco products in a vehicle with a minor present. Needless to say, it seems that cigarette use, not just in the US but around the globe, has become a highly scrutinized, vilified practice. Yet, celebrities, media campaigns, fashion, and film all seem to be welcoming cigarettes back into the public sphere with open arms. Is this changing how we perceive cigarettes? 

Celebrities as the Spark

Sabrina Carpenter in Interview Magazine. Kylie Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair. Literally any photo of Charli XCX. All “it-girls”, all shot inhaling cigarette smoke. Social media and Hollywood is becoming saturated in images of its A-listers posed with cigarettes. So much so that an Instagram account titled Cigfluencers exists as a place for all this content to reside.

A photo reposted from Interview Magazine of Hailey Bieber holding a lit cigarette and smiling into the flash of the camera is just another example of cigarettes’ deliberate placement in the hands of celebrities. One user commented under the image, “I must quit but this is a wonderful advertisement for me to continue,” and I can’t deny that I myself am starting to feel influenced.

Cigarettes growing prominence in media seems to align with a greater aesthetic shift towards a more grungy appearance, suggesting we may be approaching the death of the clean girl ideal. Because it’s not necessarily that the quote-on-quote it-girls of Hollywood are changing; Dua Lipa, Hailey Bieber, and Bella Hadid, are all still very much “it”, but that the things that make them effortlessly chic are evolving. And it seems that being haloed by cigarette smoke or resting a dart between painted lips has quickly been adopted back into fashion. 

A New Era of Non-Conformity

It’s clear that the new era of Hollywood is beginning to deter from its polished, pristine aesthetic and making a return to its once rebellious, grungy ways. All trends seem to be cyclical, recycling themselves with the times, yet this gravitation towards non-conformity seems to mirror the larger sentiments of American society. A certain sense of rebellion exists in the present, rebellion towards the current presidential administration and the top 1%. This unrest amongst young generations isn’t new, as historically young people are the cohort most willing to make their disapproval loud and clear through acts of subtle disobedience and rebellion. Think of the protests of the Vietnam war, the drug culture of the 60s and 70s. Just like trends, these acts of disobedience are cyclical, and young people’s dissatisfaction continues to find its way into popular culture and society. Their disapproval with current climates, whether that be political, cultural, or social, has, and will, make itself known via different avenues of expression. And welcoming cigarettes back into mainstream media may be the perfect way to convey their disobedience (while of course still appearing mysterious and sexy and on trend). 

Though it’s unclear why exactly cigarette use is reentering mainstream media, the timeliness of the trend can’t be ignored. It feels deliberate, tactile, like the shifting trend towards grunge, angst, and non-conformity is in response to something greater. Whether it be a mere aesthetic transition or subliminal message, cigarettes are undoubtedly making a comeback. This isn’t to say that’s a good thing, that we should welcome and accept cigarettes back into mainstream media and pick up a habit many of us have stayed clear from all together. Instead, we can note what this return to rebellion means. This civil display of disobedience. We can think about other, less deadly ways to convey our dissatisfaction, contributing to the cyclical trend of young generations being outspoken. Young people being perpetrators of change, and we can continue this healthy trend set long before us.

Is smoking cool again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!