MOHAK JAIN (14PGDM092)

Section B
WAC II
THANKYOU FOR SMOKING

Q1) Justify the title Thank you for smoking.

The film through dry humor and satirical insights satirizes how giant industries
manipulate the public into believing fallacies. The film follows the wheeling and
dealing of the wonderfully named Nick Naylor, the mouth-piece for fictional
corporation National Tobacco.
The question on which the film rests is could the best salesman in the world sell
ice to Eskimos if the Eskimos know the ice was poisonous? The answer,
apparently, is yes. This is what proved by Nick Naylor in the film, and thus the
satirical name for the movie - Thank you for smoking.
Q2) What are the communication theories implied in the movie? Give examples.
Communication
Theory

Cognitive
Dissonance Theory

Persuasion
Theory

Movie Scenes and Inferences

The opening scene portrays a talk show in which the main
character (Nick Naylor) is defending the tobacco industry in front
of a live audience when he is the panel where four people talking
about how cigarettes are bad for human consumption. There was
even a 15-year-old boy with lung cancer. The audience cheers for
the teenager for being brave and stopping smoking. He explained
that tobacco companies actually care for their customers. Without
them, he said, tobacco companies would go broke. He tells further
fallacies about tobacco companies and somehow turns the
audiences attitudes from hatred to empathy.
Inference: Nick knows that tobacco kills people. He wants to be
a good example to his son, but he also needs a job. His job
compromises his values and ethics. Despite this, he says that he
likes his job and enjoys working for the tobacco industry.
Nick persuades the Marlboro man (now old &
Suffering from lung cancer) to accept the bribe when visited to his
house with his son.
Inference: Nick doesn't try to convince his opponents of their
faults. He tries to expose them through debate and show it to the
general public. Nick says he is after the layman.

Social Environment
Theory

Rhetorical Theory

Nick and his son visit a movie agency to work on his plan to
put cigarettes back in the hands of movie stars. It is
becoming increasingly clear that Hollywood agent is the role
that Hollywood is able to have the most fun with. Rob Lowe
stars as the agent in question, a man who is obsessed with
Asian culture and only sleeps on Sundays.
Inference: We must consider the social condition in which
we work. When we communicate we all take part in a social
situation.
Scene 1: In one conversation between a father and a son,
Naylor coaches his son Joey by telling him the beauty of
argument: if you argue correctly, youre never wrong. This
depicts a frame of Nicks character and probably explains the
reason as to why he does not lose arguments. This is because
he reframes the argument till he wins.
Scene 2: Nick Naylor is shown again in the senatorial
committee meeting where he testifies. As he speaks about
the importance of education and parental responsibility to
inform youths about the probable dangers of smoking, he
mentions his own accountability to aptly be a parent to his
own son, Joey. He further points out to his young son, who is
a part of the audience.
Inference: The main protagonist of the film presents logically
sound arguments to argue and win in favor of a controversial
topic like smoking cigarettes. The use of rhetoric by Nick is
what made him renowned as a lobbyist.

Q3) What is the message conveyed in the movie?

You dont have to believe in the cause you represent.
Nick Naylor faced a moral dilemma in his promotion of cigarettes, but he still did
it. Whatever his reasons, he was able to successfully argue in favor of smoking.
This gives us a great lesson to follow in a situation where you had to negotiate for
something you didnt necessarily believe in but were ordered to by your boss.
Bribery, saving face
Nick Naylor showed Marlboro man how he could keep the money and save face
which he earlier didnt want to take and later took it. How peoples reputations
will be affected by the outcomes of a negotiation. Negotiating on behalf of their
employer is probably not as strong of a motivator as negotiating for themselves.
If you argue correctly, youre never wrong.
The main point in this movie is all about statistics, but not just about statistics. It
is also about real life. Nick said this in the film to his son to show how he
persuaded people that cigarettes werent all bad. This is based on the idea that
human persuasion can override facts. And if a situation is ambiguous, without a
clear right or wrong, this makes persuasion even more powerful.

Submitted By:
Mohak Jain
14PGDM092
Section B