Thank You for Smoking (2005)

The American satirical black comedy film, Thank You for Smoking (2005), written and directed by Jason Reitman, follows the story of Nick Naylor. As a Big Tobacco spokesman, Naylor relies on ‘research’ from the ‘Academy of Tobacco Studies’, where he serves as vice-president. Despite increasing pressure from anti-tobacco campaigns and declining numbers of young smokers, Naylor remains confident in his job. He meets regularly with his friends – firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey – playfully referring to themselves as the ‘Merchants of Death’ or ‘The MOD Squad’. However, when Naylor’s boss BR sends him to Los Angeles to negotiate for cigarette product placement in upcoming movies, he brings along his son Joey in hopes of strengthening their bond.

The following day, Naylor is tasked with meeting Lorne Lutch, the former Marlboro Man who is now speaking out against cigarettes due to his cancer diagnosis. Accompanied by his son, Naylor successfully offers Lutch a large sum of money to keep quiet about his anti-cigarette campaign. One of Naylor’s fiercest opponents, Senator Finistirre, introduces a bill to require cigarette packaging to display a skull and crossbones POISON warning. As Naylor prepares to argue against the bill at a U.S. Senate committee hearing, he is abducted by an unknown group and forcibly given nicotine patches. When he regains consciousness in a hospital, he discovers that he has survived thanks to his long-time heavy smoking habits but has now developed a severe sensitivity to nicotine and can no longer smoke.