Pop Stars Make Smoking Look Whimsical, but It’s Still Deadly

Disclaimer: I love Sabrina Carpenter and all the other musicians mentioned in this article. This article is written out of confusion and frustration around the trend of cigarettes becoming cool again (which they are definitively not).

Native Impact Call Out

Before I get too deep into the culture of tobacco in Southern and rural areas, I want to note the marginalization of the indigenous experience. Indigenous traditional tobacco is different from the commercialized, highly addictive, and deadly product. Traditional tobacco is a sacred part of many indigenous cultures. I don’t want to disregard the trauma of colonization, forced assimilation, and commercial tobacco marketing on native communities. This article from the Minnesota Department of Health covers the nuance better than I could.

The Rural Correlation

So, back to Sabrina playing the part of a white-trash hitchhiker. Why are cigarettes associated with rural communities anyway? U.S. white tobacco use can be easily traced to colonial times, as it was a major export. To scale production, plantation owners used indentured servants and slave labor to cultivate the crop.¹NPS Tobacco Cultivation Methods Tobacco use continues to have a positive correlation with rural areas to this day. In the 2024 Surgeon General Report (SGR), isolation and rurality are key indicators of potential tobacco use in youth.

Rural high school youth living in the country or on farms were exposed to fewer school protective factors (i.e., opportunities and rewards for prosocial involvement) and higher school risk factors (i.e., academic failure and low commitment
to school) versus youth living in towns… School risk factors
were strongly associated with greater odds of lifetime and
current smokeless tobacco use among high school and
middle school students across rural contexts.

2024 Surgeon General Report

The trend does not end with rural youth. In one case study, after CVS discontinued tobacco products in Southeast stores, Family Dollar and Dollar General started to sell tobacco. This “led to an overall increase in the density of tobacco retailers” despite the loss of a major one.²2024 Surgeon General Report Furthermore, smoking is correlated with lower education and living below the poverty level.³Socioeconomic Differences in Cigarette Smoking Among Sociodemographic Groups

The premise of the Manchild music video places Sabrina in the middle of a trailer park/ dive bar/ motel/ small town setting. These rural, less educated, and poorer settings are highly correlated with tobacco use. This may be why Sabrina’s team thought a cigarette might complete her look for the music video. But to me, the video glamorizes this setting and lifestyle. In the comments, people are calling it “Americana” and “vintage.” This setting is not vintage, despite what Sabrina’s outfits might indicate. These types of communities still exist, and smoking is not a cute prop or photo op. It is a self-medicating escapist tool that shortens lifespans significantly.

I want to find a counterargument or give her the benefit of the doubt, but ultimately, the song has just a hint of country, and the music video went to the extremes of country stereotypes. And the video is really well done in the detail, humor, and cinematography, but why include the smoking?

Sabrina, Where is the Whimsy? (It Doesn’t Exist)

I give you these studies, history, and context because I’m trying to understand what Sabrina Carpenter could have found whimsical about smoking a cigarette. Could it be the higher risk for youth to take up smoking in rural areas? The allure of dollar store greed suffocating communities and lungs? I didn’t even get into the “inclusivity” of big Tobacco marketing towards Black populations.⁴Unfair and Unjust Practices and Conditions Harm African American People and Drive Health Disparities Smoking kills. There are decades of exploitation and evil marketing tactics from the tobacco industry that push the idea that smoking is cool, but it’s all a ploy to gain profits at the expense of public health.

Other Pop Star Examples

Sabrina Carpenter by no means is the only one hopping on the cigarettes are cool again trend. Addison Rae’s recent single “Headphones On” has the line “need a cigarette to make me feel better.” Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’s promo for their duet “Die with a Smile” depicted Lady Gaga smoking a cigarette. Even Chappell Roan’s iconic NPR tiny desk performance involved a drag outfit with a wig covered in cigarettes. What gets me is that these people are vocalists and singers. We all know the impacts of smoking on lung health and voice health. It doesn’t make sense for singers to promote smoking in the first place. I’m not trying to be the police of what is cool or what singers can write or sing about. In Addison’s song the message is about growth and overcoming uncertainty and past traumas. That’s a beautiful message, and self-medicating with drugs is a common way to escape trauma. What I’m trying to say is there is nuance to some of this and at the same time, movies are rated R when there is smoking, there are huge warning labels on cigarette packs and ads, and in YouTube music videos, anything goes. The implication for her young audience is not good.⁵Music videos popular with young people frequently feature tobacco imagery

Conclusion

It truly baffles me why celebrities do this. I certainly would not pose with a cigarette to make my blog seem “cooler.” Luckily, in my research for this article, there was nothing to indicate smoking is on the rise, although I didn’t see any data for 2024 or 2025. What do you think? Maybe I’m getting too heated over 3 seconds of a music video but I wonder what it’s like for the middle schoolers addicted to their vapes to watch Sabrina Carpenter smoke a cigarette.

• 1
  NPS Tobacco Cultivation Methods
• 2
  2024 Surgeon General Report
• 3
  Socioeconomic Differences in Cigarette Smoking Among Sociodemographic Groups
• 4
  Unfair and Unjust Practices and Conditions Harm African American People and Drive Health Disparities
• 5
  Music videos popular with young people frequently feature tobacco imagery