The constant smoking

It doesn't NEED to be 'realisitic'..they are pushing an influence, not trying to reflect reality.

Movies have always had a powerful influence on people’s behavior, from how they talk to how they dress. Tobacco marketers have taken advantage of this power to popularize and normalize smoking. Tobacco companies have purposely cultivated a relationship with Hollywood since at least the 1930s. Their own internal documents show that tobacco companies:
• Suppressed negative portrayals of smoking in movies;
• Supplied free cigarettes to a long list of Hollywood celebrities to encourage
publicity and brand exposure and smoking on screen; and
• Paid cash to place their brands in specific movies without audiences knowing.

With the negative health effects of smoking reported in the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report, smoking in movies decreased in the 1960s, but by the 1970s smoking had reemerged with regularity in the movies. When television ads for tobacco came under fire in the late 1960s and were barred by Congress in 1973, movies became even more important to tobacco companies to best position their brands in the U.S. and global marketplace.

Tobacco use and tobacco product placement in movies is potentially more persuasive than other forms of advertising such as print advertising. A magazine advertisement constitutes only one image, which is clearly identified as a paid advertisement. Onscreen tobacco use, on the other hand, presents a series of images. It seems to be “real life” and may not be recognized as a paid advertisement.

Portrayals of tobacco use in movies promote the same themes as other tobacco advertising: rebellion, independence, sexiness, wealth, power and celebration.

You know it's funny - the only time it's socially acceptable to be an outright obnoxious dickhead is when talking to or about smokers. If I composed a post just like yours but about fat people I'd be labelled an *beep* - and quite justifiably too.

I find it hilarious that some non-smokers act superior to smokers as if they aren't going to die like every human being, smoker or not lol.

I did not hit you. I simply high-fived your face.

Wait, so you're saying the Gen X slackers, like the Occupiers tapping on their iPads, are hypocrites?

No waaay!


Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

More than likely, they were rebelling against the system that told them smoking's bad for them. After all, this is the same system that exaggerates and outright lies about the effects of illicit drugs in order to justify the "war on drugs."

I'm a Gen Y, so I grew up laughing at a commercial where some kid blows his brains out because he was stoned and wanted to see if the gun was loaded. Or the one where the kids are at a drive through and decide to gun the car at a
little girl riding her bike after realizing he didn't have cash to pay for his food. But anyone with life experience, even in high school let alone college, can tell you these were absurd, as the first kid was just stupid for looking in the barrel of a gun and the second kids was irresponsible for DRIVING while stoned.

Gen Xers grew up with their own propaganda, like "This is your brain on drugs." and "I learned it from watching you!" Considering that the late 70s/early 80s had heavy cocaine use and the late 80s had the crack epidemic, I would say the propaganda machine was probably met with the same bemusement and skepticism from Gen Xers that Gen Yers gave our propaganda.

With all this in mind, would you believe a confused high schooler would believe anything anybody tells him/her, or would they say, "*beep* it" and start smoking cigarettes in high school, which turns into chain smoking in college?

I was a young kid in 1994 and I saw it everywhere.. It was so annoying that almost every public place smelled like a ash tray.

You are right, not too many people their age smoked in the mid 90s. But a segment of the early 20s crowd was heavily into it. I think that people like Lelaina and Troy would realistically be heavy smokers in that time period.

Yeah, they're all still acting. They should write a sequel and see where all the characters are now.