Keeping it Together: Uh oh, smoking is cool again

Uh oh, smoking is becoming cool again.

It's Hannah Yasharoff, wellness and celebrity culture reporter for Paste BN. I kept noticing lately that celebrities, as well as some regular folks, particularly in their 20s, have started posting photos of themselves smoking.

Dua Lipa, Lily-Rose Depp and Jenna Ortega have all flaunted their cigarettes recently. Many young people are getting back into the smoking for the aesthetic, especially on nights out. It’s 2023. The general public is well aware is that smoking is dangerous — so why are some people picking up smoking now? 

“It’s a source of frustration, because people do know that (it can kill),” Robin Koval, CEO of anti-smoking organization Truth Initiative, told me. “But we have a tobacco industry that is working day and night to actively promote a product that will kill 50% of the people who use it. … It is frustrating, and this is why we have to keep talking about it.” 

I talked to experts about the psychology of why some people still think smoking is cool given everything we know about how dangerous it is − and what responsibility celebrities who are smoking in the public eye have when it comes to the influence they have over young people watching them.

You can click here to read all about the resurgence of the cool smoking aesthetic, and continue scrolling for more great stories from our Wellness team this week.