‘Thank You For Smoking’
a winning satire that examines the ludicrosity of a lobbyist’s agenda as he facilitates the promotion of cigarette use and the tobacco industry as a whole.
Released in 2007, ‘Thank You For Smoking’ stars Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Maria Bello, Adam Brody, and JK Simmons among others – helmed by Jason Reitman – this film serves as an indictment of corporations who seek to control consumers through pernicious marketing, unethical lobbying, clandestine bribery, and of course political maneuvering. Despite the product in question having been responsible for nearly half a million deaths annually in the US alone. Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, one of the highest paid lobbyists for the industry, even representing a company in the film that’s a fictional stand-in for Marlboro cigarettes an extremely well known distributor of tobacco products (an appearance of Sam Elliot as an ailing yet still infamous “Marlboro Man” is one of the more sentimental sequences). Katie Holmes plays a reporter named Heather Holloway assigned to Naylor with the task of getting as much dirt on him as humanly possible. By the end of the film, it’s revealed her feminine wiles positioned Holloway to seduce Naylor – a man who holds some of the darkest secrets regarding the tobacco industry’s dirty dealings.
But I’m putting the cart before the horse, let’s backup a bit.
The satire contained within is biting, acerbic, a tad dark or macabre at times; yet it attempts a Fonzi-like coolness that is achieved quite effectively through impressively creative editing combined with a strong narrative. Not to mention the film’s triumphantly, egalitarian main thesis:
Capitalism bereft of sturdy guardrails propagates naught but corporate interests; interests which put a higher value on profit versus life – and lack ethical conviction when determining the adverse health effects of their products, and more importantly, whether or not to advertise such negative trappings.
Nick Naylor is the man who has it all, a beautiful upscale apartment, a son that loves him, a job that allows exercise of his rare gift of gab in exchange for a hefty salary and huge benefit package. He has the admiration, and oftentimes jealousy of his peers (a group that calls themselves the MODs – Merchants of Death) the two other biggest lobbyists in the USA – each working for the Firearms and Alcohol industries, respectively. They enjoy rehashing their various controversies; from talk-show kurfuffles, to death threats, and a shared perceived risk of vigilante justice. These three amigos discuss how they deal with it all – a ritualistic unwinding over cocktails and appetizers is used as an excuse to confirm that on an individual level each is at the top of their game, highest in their social hierarchy; roosting at the top of the pecking order. The few scenes between Nick and his contemporaries in “the biz”, deliver a mixture of friendship fused with unfiltered sadism. A recipe that’s somehow serendipitously endearing to watch – even while offending the sensibilities with its overly raw and torrid nihilism.
There’s also a nifty little section showcasing the true genius of marketing executives and their teams, where a man is showing the boss R.B. (J.K. Simmons) and Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) a set of slides illustrating the newest advertising campaign. The younger man mentions the “deconstructability” of a slogan, which in turn causes Naylor and his boss (Simmons) to inquire what that means specifically, upon which the younger man points to the slogan written on the board, “Everything Your Parents Tell You About Smoking Is Right” and asks his superiors to say the last three words back to him – the last three words being “Smoking Is Right”.
The implication is this; the final three words will resonate more than the overall message, thus embedding the polar opposite of what the TV commercial espoused – a father telling his son not to smoke until he’s older. It’s an illuminating scene for those unaware of the subliminal aspects of advertising while being a bit ostentatious in its reductionist view of unchecked corporate greed. And the mental manipulation that arises from profit engineering. Even so, the scene still manages some delicious levity while scrutinizing the fairly commonplace, yet relatively insidious tactics of a vast and powerful marketing industry. Lobbyists and marketers are in the business of changing peoples’ minds after all, and the methods are of little concern to those who sit at the top of the corporate power structure. The goal is really, simply, to have a higher stock price than in the previous quarter: assuredly everything else is just noise. When acquiring profits the shareholders are paramount – while integrity – is somewhere near the bottom of the list, priority wise.
But cigarette sales are damn good for the economy, eh? Especially private health insurers. Am I right or am I right?
So, in closing, Thank You For Smoking…
Rating 8.5/10
