I think we can all agree that brat summer wasn’t just a fun vibe, it was a cultural turning point. But as we shifted from the clean girl to cool girl, we saw a resurgence in the popularity of smoking, fuelled by our favourite celebs. In other words, smoking somehow became a ~ cool aesthetic ~ again
A taboo habit in pop-culture up until recently, the adoption of smoking as a social accessory now seems to be everywhere. A mainstay in the work of Charli xcx, Addison Rae, and Sabrina Carpenter — three of the breakout pop-stars of the past few years — it featured in the hands of Real Housewife Dorit Kemsley smoking in her G Wagon in a now viral clip, has become the preferred party favour at celebrity events, and is a frequent scene stealer in Rachel Sennott’s I Love LA.
Given there is a “worldwide scientific consensus” that smoking onscreen is linked to young people’s “uptake of smoking”, smoking taking centre stage in our media is cause for concern. Research by Truth Initiative found that “young people with high exposure to tobacco images in television shows were three times as likely to start vaping” — a concerning stat made worse when you consider young people who have vaped are five times more likely to take up smoking than their non-vaping peers.
And now, smoking rates are rising amongst Australia’s youth.
So, is this increased smoking rate linked to our pop culture icons in the media? And, has our fight against cigarettes run out of puff?
Where are we seeing celeb smoking?
In pop culture, we’re seeing cigarettes pop up on stage, screen, socials, and even runways.
Take music videos, for example. Smoking can be spotted in Addison Rae’s “Aquamarine”, Lady Gaga’s “Die With A Smile”, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild”, and Charli xcx’s ‘360’ – which racked up 350 million views alone. According to Truth Initiative, America’s research centre dedicated to eradicating nicotine addiction, smoking depictions in music videos doubled between 2023 and 2024.
We’ve also seen it stylised off screen. Paparazzi photos of heartthrobs Jeremy Allen White and Paul Mescal smoking have been heralded and thirsted over by fans while Addison Rae, The Dare, and Beyoncé have all been seen smoking on stage.
In a trend possibly started by Mary-Kate Olsen herself, it can be seen popping up at events, with Charli xcx’s wedding boasting personalised packs on trays, Rosalia arriving with a cig bouquet to a birthday, and influencer Jaquie Alexander’s TikTok fanning over cigarettes at a wedding copping more than 660,000 views.
Young people have noticed
While it’s important to remember that our health and habits are ultimately our own (if you want to be brat, you can do it without the smokes), young people have noticed a growing presence of cigarettes in pop culture.
In an IG poll to get young people’s thoughts on smoking in pop culture, many said they had noticed the uptick of smoking in the media, with some even saying they’d seen a similar increase among their peers.
“Charli xcx made it cool again,” one young person told PEDESTRIAN.TV about the smoking resurgence.
“I used to be extremely anti-smoking,” another person said. “The more popular it becomes, the less bad I think it is.”
Some even suggested smoking as a better alternative to vaping, saying they “consider it healthier” or have “literally taken up smoking to help try and quit vaping” — a shocking impression considering smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia.
Research by ANU found that smoking kills 24,000 people per year — that’s 66 people a day — with lead author Professor Emily Banks saying “the number should be zero”. Smoking currently accounts for 13 per cent of all cancer cases in the country, with 70 of a cigarette’s 7,000 chemicals known to cause cancer.
Who’s really to blame here?
Of course, pop culture alone isn’t to blame for a potential resurgence.
ABC reporting suggests the increase is also linked to the availability of illegal tobacco products, with Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Kerrie Aust saying, “I haven’t seen numbers like this since I started my career in general practice”, warning that if action isn’t taken soon, this could become “the generation that takes up smoking again”.
However, there is an acknowledgment from experts that these pop-culture depictions are a cause for concern. Rachel Anderson, director of anti-smoking non-profit Quit, told P.TV she was concerned we were seeing a “softening of the social unacceptability of smoking through culture”.
“We’ve seen models on catwalks, musicians and other famous people smoking, seemingly glamorising this harmful activity,” she said. “The truth is, there’s nothing desirable or glamorous about smoking.”
While Anderson doesn’t solely attribute rising smoking rates to pop culture, she says the exposure certainly hasn’t gone away. “Big Tobacco has a long history of finding ways to influence culture despite legislation,” she explained.
“We call on film studios, production houses, influential people and social media platforms to consider how depictions of smoking can harmfully influence social norms.”
What’s happening here in Australia?
Thankfully, we’ve seen some positive changes over the past few years.
The sharp rise in smoking and vaping rates we saw in young Aussies from 2020 to 2023 have plateaued, recently released research from Quit revealed, with researchers cautiously optimistic.
“It’s encouraging to see that the rapid rise in vaping among young people seems to have stopped, especially since experts thought it might take years to slow it down”, lead researcher Professor Sarah Durkin said.
“Smoking rates among young people in 2024 are about the same as they were in 2022, and overall, smoking rates are still going down across the whole population”.
The explosion in nicotine use from 2018 to 2023 — during which smoking rates tripled, and vaping rates increased 12 times over — means we’ve fallen off track to hit 2030 targets to reduce the smoking population down to five per cent. Modelling now suggests we won’t hit this until 2039, at the earliest.
Though it is difficult to know what drives a person to take up smoking — in the same way it is difficult to know exactly how much the media we consume informs our daily life — smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Australia and any increase is cause for concern.
So, if your algorithm has skewed towards cigarettes in the past few years, it is worth considering whether this trend is one you want to follow — and what risk you’re willing to take.
For non-judgemental, free support to stop smoking or vaping visit quit.org.au or call Quitline 13 7848.
The post ‘Charli xcx Made It Cool Again’: Are We Seeing A Smoking Resurgence? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
