What we’re noticing: Smoking looking cool again

This is part of our What we’re noticing series, where we share trends we’re seeing in how New Zealanders are watching, sharing, and rediscovering media, and what that can mean for viewers today.

Not so long ago, smoking on screen felt dated. It was something you noticed in older films and series, often tied to a particular era or aesthetic. For many young people, it wasn’t especially cool, it was just there.

Lately, though, we’ve been noticing a shift.

Smoking is reappearing in films, series, and music videos in ways that feel more current. It’s showing up alongside contemporary artists and pop culture figures, framed as grungy, effortless, and stylish. A few years ago, this kind of portrayal didn’t seem to land the same way. Now, it feels like something worth paying attention to.

Is smoking becoming “cool” again on screen?

A few years back, members of our Youth Advisory Panel told us that smoking in films and series wasn’t really seen as cool anymore. It felt old-fashioned, even a bit cringe. That perspective reflected years of public health messaging and changing social norms.

What we’re seeing now looks different.

Rather than being tied to historical settings or period dramas, smoking is appearing in very current contexts, in films, series, and music videos that speak directly to today’s audiences. It’s not about revisiting another time, the way smoking featured in shows like Mad Men. Instead, it’s presented as part of a contemporary aesthetic: raw, rebellious, and casually confident. It’s also subversive when it subtly starts to appear in pop culture of the moment (see Kylie Jenner smoking in Charli XCX’s promo for The Moment, Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, Gwyneth Paltrow’s character in Marty Supreme).

That shift raises an interesting question about whether attitudes are changing again, and how young people are interpreting what they see on screen.

Who makes smoking look cool?

Media doesn’t exist in isolation. When smoking appears alongside popular musicians, actors, and cultural figures, it can take on a different weight. It’s not just a background detail; it becomes part of a look, a mood, or a brand.

There’s an opportunity here to encourage critical thinking, not just for young people, but for all of us. When smoking appears on screen, it’s worth pausing to ask a few simple questions:

• Who is smoking in this scene and how are they being presented?
  Are they framed as powerful, rebellious, glamorous, damaged, or in control?
• What does smoking seem to signal about this character?
  Is it showing confidence, toughness, independence, or something else?
• Is smoking part of the story, or part of the aesthetic?
  Would the scene feel different if it wasn’t there?
• How does this portrayal make me feel about smoking?
  Does it make it seem appealing, normal, unremarkable, or something to question?

What makes this moment feel distinct is that it isn’t driven by nostalgia alone. It’s not about romanticising the past. The imagery feels modern and intentionally styled, less “this is how it used to be” and more “this is what cool looks like now”.

That doesn’t mean viewers automatically copy what they see, but it does shape what feels normal, desirable, or worth paying attention to. Who is smoking, how it’s framed, and what surrounds it all matter.

What are we watching for next?

We’re not here to rehash the well-known harms of smoking, that information is widely available, and we encourage New Zealanders to check out Te Whatu Ora's website for more information. What we are interested in is how these portrayals evolve, and whether they start to show up more often across different types of content.

From a classification perspective, smoking hasn’t been something we’ve needed to flag as often in recent years, reflecting broader shifts in media and society. However, in 2023 we classified a documentary about One Direction as M, with warnings for offensive language and tobacco smoking, a decision that was more out of the ordinary for us and one that was carefully considered due to the likelihood younger viewers could watch it.

If portrayals of smoking continue to increase, and if the way they’re framed keeps evolving, we may see increased interest in content warnings that acknowledge smoking more explicitly. As always, the aim is to support informed viewing, not to make value judgements about the content itself.

Final thoughts

Media trends move in cycles, but they don’t always repeat themselves in the same way. When smoking appears on screen today, it’s not necessarily echoing the past, it’s being reshaped for the present.

We’ll continue to keep an eye on how this trend develops and how audiences respond to it. As with any content element, awareness and context matter. Understanding what’s on screen, and how it might land with different viewers, supports more informed choices, whatever you’re watching.

Further reading:

What we classify

UP IN SMOKE Kylie Jenner slammed as ‘irresponsible’ for smoking a cigarette in new music video with Charli xcx - The Sun

Quitting smoking - Te Whatu Ora

Research for a tobacco free future - ASPIRE Aotearoa