♪ (punk rock music) ♪
- Had a cigarette? - Yeah.
Have one of mine.
Raleigh. Never tried 'em before.
It reminds me of Mad Men.
(narrator) Everyday, more and more people
- are discovering the-- - Oh, are these old cigarette commercials?
Tastes great.
No, cigarettes are gross.
What's this coupon?
That's something extra you get with Raleigh's.
I got my watch through Raleigh coupons.
- I got my son a transistor radio. - What?
Would you get me a pack of cigarettes?
And make them a Raleigh.
You can order cigarettes at a restaurant? What the--? (splutters)
(narrator) And it's a valuable gift to get free--
Buy our product and you'll get coupons.
(narrator) Next time, look for the pack
- with the coupon on the back. - What?
Basically, I'm gonna have to kill my lungs
so I can get a free watch.
That's a good deal.
(narrator) What cigarette do you smoke?
You'll be interested to know how the doctors of America
answered that question.
Doctors were smoking?!
(narrator) Doctors in every branch of medicine were asked
"What cigarette do you smoke, doctor?"
The brand named most was--
Doctors smoke Camel. Buy our cigarettes. (laughs)
- (narrator) More doctors smoke Camels-- - Oh my god.
Are you kidding me?
I was so far lost. It's ridiculous.
(narrator) Here's John Wayne, America's number one
dramatic movie star.
- When the cameras stop-- - What cigarette does he smoke?
..enjoy his favorite cigarette, Camel.
After you've been making a lot of strenuous scenes--
So now they're taking famous people to support cigarette use.
- ..to enjoy a cool, mild, good tasting-- - Sure you do, pilgrim.
That's what Camels are.
I know, I've been smoking 'em for 20 years.
Oh, jeez! He's gonna die.
See what I mean.
Nowadays, it's like the exact opposite of this.
You have people with holes in their throats
and then they're like, "Don't smoke."
- Lucy? - Yes, dear?
- Give me a cigarette, will you? - No, Lucy!
I Love Lucy was even in the commercial?
- Is there any other kind? - Not for you, there isn't.
That's so punch-you-in-the-face produce placement.
Lucy, you're so good to me.
- No! - That's so unattractive.
Why would you just kiss death?
You see how easy it is to keep a man happy?
You kill him slowly!
Oh my god.
He'll love them for their mildness--
So much sexism. (giggles)
And he'll love you too for thinking of him.
I thought Lucy was some innocent woman
when here she is supporting cigarettes.
(narrator) The Flintstones!
Not the Flintstones!
No!!!
- These commercials cannot be real. - That's not real.
(narrator) Brought to you by Winston!
Ugh, man, there are people that would murder you
to see this today.
♪ Winston tastes good like a cigarette should ♪
I've seen this.
This is just ridiculous.
- Children watched the show! - The Flintstones?!
I take their vitamins.
It makes you wonder what else is bad now
that we think's healthy.
♪ (punk rock music) ♪
(Finebros) How did these commercials make cigarettes
- seem as a product? - They make them seem like it's godly.
It's the greatest thing ever.
It's fun, it tastes good, it's relaxing.
They'll make you happy and smarter and better looking
because look at all the cool people that are in these commercials.
They're all hot.
Back then, they didn't know about the repercussions of smoking.
I guess they didn't know at the time, too, that it wasn't--
that it was horrible for you.
Everyone was just like, "Oh, yeah, it's totally fine"
and then, boom, lung cancer and dead.
(Finebros) Well, that's not the whole truth,
but we'll get to that.
But first, honesty time: have you ever smoked a cigarette?
No.
No, 'cause it's disgusting.
I've never smoked a cigarette.
- I've never smoked a cigarette. - I've never smoked a cigarette.
Nobody believes me when I say it though.
Nope, my dad smoked and I didn't like that.
I lost my grandpa at a really young age because of cancer
because of smoking.
My dad smokes three packs a day.
I don't know how he's not dead yet.
You know it's really bad for you. Why are you doing it?
Yeah, I did one time.
I made the decision of, "I wonder what it's like."
Thought it was terrible.
Felt like I was gonna get sick to my stomach.
Right afterwards, I was like, "I'm gonna take a shower.
I'm gonna spray perfume and brush my teeth.
My parents are never gonna know." I mean, now they're gonna know.
(Finebros) Back to advertising, have you ever seen
a modern-day cigarette commercial?
I feel like I've seen some when I was younger.
Newport Pleasure.
Maybe it was commercial, maybe it was a magazine ad.
I mean, there's anti-cigarette commercials now.
I've seen a couple e-cigarette commercials.
- I can't think of any. - No.
No, actually. No, I haven't.
No, I'm sure they're all banned.
No, 'cause it is illegal to advertise cigarettes.
You actually would never see a television commercial
for cigarettes anymore because since the 1970's
- they've been illegal. - Really?
Oh, wow!
Oh my gosh. I didn't even know that.
That doesn't make sense to me.
It's definitely a good thing.
I mean, a lot less exposure,
but why would that one thing be selectively excluded?
(Finebros) In the past, cigarette companies actually were aware
of how dangerous it was and they didn't care
and would lie in their commercials.
That's so bad!
That's the biggest example of false advertising ever.
It's like brainwashing people.
Now, anyone can look up alcohol poisoning.
They didn't have the ability to get access to information.
The head of the cigarette company-- they're not gonna call them up
and be like, "Hey, is this bad for me?" They're not gonna say yes.
(Finebros) Well, in part due to false advertising
along with the public health issues,
it led to the US Government instituting a ban that remains
to this day on TV commercials.
Mmm, it makes me think not to trust older people.
(Finebros) What do you think about so many people
not that long ago being completely willing to lie and sell
a product that was killing people?
Money makes the world go round.
They want money. They don't care.
That's like a war crime almost.
What I've learned, personally, is that just don't trust commercials.
It makes you really think about what's happening now
'cause you would just wonder, "Are people still doing that?"
You know, you think there's laws preventing that
but maybe there's not.
(Finebros) Do you think if cigarettes were still marketed
this heavily and in this way more teens would be smoking?
Probably not.
I mean, nowadays they put images of what this [bleep] can do to you.
Absolutely. Are you kidding me?
The only reason why I wear certain shoes is because I see
the shoes on a commercial.
Maybe, 'cause with all the advertisements with vapes
and stuff now too, everyone wants a vape.
The vaping thing is getting huge now
and I'm like, "Don't you see? It's the same."
(Finebros) One of the more recent controversies is the rise
and popularity of e-cigarettes, or vaping.
Is that something that's becoming popular with teens?
I don't know if they're generally becoming popular
because I know none of my friends do it.
I have seen it at my school.
Oh, yeah. They're everywhere now.
Kids got vape pens at my school every day.
- It's like passing out candy on Halloween. - It really is.
I'm open to vaping.
I mean, it is just as bad. Not just as bad.
If they're only using the base components,
I don't think it'd be that bad for you.
I've seen middle schoolers, young middle schoolers going,
"Oh my god, yeah. #VapeLife. #SmokeWeedEveryDay.
#Ganja. Yeah!"
Like, no, it's not cute.
(Finebros) Do you think it's possible that history's repeating itself
with these e-cigs?
Yeah, I mean, it's possible.
We could definitely be getting mass murdered again.
For vaping, what it is today
is the amount of information that we knew back then about cigarettes.
They look at it and it says, "Oh, water vapor.
Oh, this is just H20.
Let me smoke this for the rest of my life."
It's like a different packaging of the same poison.
You put a pretty pink sticker on it and say it's peach flavored
and suddenly it can't be harmful to you.
Every time that I've ever talked to a kid about a vape,
"Oh, it's cool. I just do smoke tricks.
It's water vapor."
Shut up, you're trying to kill yourself!
(Finebros) So this concept of telling teenagers "don't smoke"
has been around since before we were even alive.
What is the general thoughts in your age group about smoking?
I can never get a proper answer out of anybody.
I've been to one party.
Everybody's smoking e-cigarettes.
They're like, "Oh, e-cigarettes, that's it.
Cigarettes are bad for you."
Been to another party, "Oh, e-cigarettes are horrible.
Real cigarettes."
Talking to a lot of people my age, they're like,
"Oh, I'm just curious what it tastes like"
or "I'm just gonna try it this one time."
I'd say there's more people that I know
who would rather smoke weed than smoke a cigarette.
Regular nicotine cigarettes, that is looked down upon
and that's good, but people think vaping and weed
and all that is not as harmful.
I've seen some kids that smoke cigarettes
and they'll post it on Instagram and a lot of kids that I know,
whether they vape or they don't vape
or they smoke weed or they don't smoke weed,
they'll be like, "That is disgusting."
(Finebros) So finally, in your opinion,
what is the best way today to get word out to teenagers
about things like smoking?
I don't think there is any right way.
People are still gonna do it. It's still their choice.
Unless people want to change, no one will.
You can talk to them as much as you want to
but you're still going to be talking to a wall.
If you've got more celebrities on board with those Truth campaigns.
Maybe making it harder to access?
Cigarette license, like the medical marijuana cards.
Really be brutally honest about what it does to people.
It's not a pretty thing at all.
The cold hard facts, I guess, is the best way.
That's what would reach me.
I feel like a PSA is sort of shoving the message down your throat,
whereas word-of-mouth is discussing the pros and cons,
just getting the teens to actually start talking about it.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of Teens React.
We have new shows every week, so make sure you're subscribed.
To watch bonus footage from this episode,
go to the React channel and check it out.
Goodbye!
(fake hacking)
♪ (punk rock music) ♪