‘Pack of cigs and a Bic lighter’: Are celebs glamourising smoking again?

Brat summer might be over as we grapple with how dark it is at 16:00, but the concept of being a brat – “pack of cigs and a Bic lighter”, according to the singer Charli XCX – lives on.

There’s Rosalia gifting Charli XCX a bouquet of cigarettes on her birthday, Addison Rae smoking not one but two at the same time in her music video Aquamarine, and the actor Paul Mescal saying he refused to give up smoking when getting into shape for Gladiator II.

The risks of smoking are well known – it’s still the leading cause of preventable death in the UK and is responsible for nearly 78,000 deaths annually.

GP and cancer specialist Dr Misra-Sharp says even in low quantities, smoking increases the risk of serious diseases like lung cancer, which has a 90% five-year mortality rate.

Despite this, singers, actors and influencers seem to be bringing smoking back into vogue – quite literally, with cigarettes making a return as on the New York Fashion Week runways earlier this year as accessories.

So, why are cigarettes being glamourised again?

Lucy, a 20-year-old university student, says she took up smoking recently because “it’s just what everyone does”.

Almost all her friends also smoke and she says it’s more than just a habit, it’s an aesthetic.

“I definitely think everyone trying to be brat has influenced people to start smoking because Charli herself says you have to have a pack of cigs if you really want to embody the vibe.”

Chari XCX isn’t the only celebrity to inadvertently become a so-called cigfluencer.

There are now Instagram accounts which share snaps of hundreds of celebs like Dua Lipa, Chappell Roan and Anya Taylor-Joy smoking.

The stereotypical image of a smoker may once have been an old, overweight man with rotting teeth, but that’s now been replaced by the young and glamorous celebrities who pout at the camera mysteriously with a Marlboro Gold in hand.

The aesthetic of these smoking celebs is reminiscent of the noughties when the likes of Kate Moss and Jennifer Anniston would step out in low-rise jeans and baby tees with a cigarette perfectly positioned on their lips.

Journalist Olivia Petter says the cigarette has become a symbol that represents our nostalgia towards a bygone era of carefreeness, frivolity and hedonism and it’s making an epic comeback in pop culture.

Emerald Fennell’s seductive and scandalous thriller Saltburn perfectly encapsulated the mid-noughties and reminded us of a time where it was legal to smoke indoors.

Not only were there promo pics for the film of Jacob Elordi’s character smoking topless, but smoking was such an integral part that actor Archie Madekwe (who plays Farleigh) requested cigarette lessons because he had never smoked one before.

According to Truth Initiative, a nonprofit health organisation against smoking, nine out of the 10 films nominated for the Oscars top prize earlier this year featured smoking, which is up from the seven in the year before.

Some of 2024’s biggest songs have also featured tobacco imagery – Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s Die With A Smile shows Gaga smoking as she plays the piano and sings.

Jessica, a 26-year-old who works in marketing, says smoking has “become so normalised again”.

“I didn’t know anyone that smoked a few years ago but now it seems like everyone is doing it and you sort of forget how bad it is for you.”

A recent estimate from Cancer Research suggests that around 350 young people still take up smoking each day in the UK and nearly one in 10 15-year-olds say they sometimes smoke.

But, overall, the number of young people smoking is declining – official estimates show that fewer than one out of every 10 young adults in the UK smoke cigarettes – a steep drop from a quarter of 18-24-year-olds 12 years ago.

Although the number of young people smoking is in decline, vaping has soared in popularity – one out of every seven 18-24-year-olds who never regularly smoked now use e-cigarettes.

Jessica used to vape but says “now everyone does it, it’s just not cool any more” – and it seems the normality of vaping is causing some people to switch to cigarettes.

In a recent video posted on TikTok, singer Addison Rae responded to a question about vaping by saying: “Ew, I hate vaping. Smoke a cigarette!”

US-based doctor James Hook tells the BBC he has seen cases of young people taking up smoking after vaping.

He thinks the way smoking is glamorised by celebrities means cigarettes “give young people a certain credibility those older than them do not have to work as hard for”.

He adds that many of them are “emulating older people that are considered sophisticated, trendy or appealing”.

Dr Hook also says that the government taking a tougher stance on smoking might be encouraging people to rebel.

“There will always be individuals who challenge the status quo so it should come as no surprise a ban on something only adds fuel to the fire of rebellion and a threat to a person’s sense of independence.”

The government is planning one of the toughest smoking laws in the world which would eventually ban the sale of cigarettes in the UK as the new law will effectively raise the legal age people can buy cigarettes by one year every year.

With the government’s intent on stamping out the deadly habit, the resurgence of the cigarette – and the cigfluencers – may be more of a passing trend than a lasting cultural shift, particularly as its appeal is less about the act itself and more about the aesthetic and symbolism it represents.