Thank You for Smoking and Agenda-Setting Theory

                During the Watergate Scandal, Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw established the Agenda-Setting Theory, showing the correlation between what is on the news and what the public determines as important. Through their research, they challenged whether the news stations at the time were originally catering to the general public agenda or if they were deciding what was “news worthy” for the public. (Griffin 378-79)

                This debate has continued ever since, and many researchers have determined that the answer varies; sometimes the news is reporting a certain topic because the public finds value in it, but other times the public finds value in a topic because the news reports it. One film which plays with this chicken-egg concept is the 2005 comedy by Jason Reitman, Thank You for Smoking. The film features Nick Naylor, a prominent lobbyist for the tobacco industry, and his struggle with maintaining a positive image within society. After an affair with a reporter, some of his darkest secrets make the front page, destroying his reputation and ending his job. In the end, he is offered his job back, but he turns down the opportunity, having grown enough to realize that he is done working for the tobacco industry.

                The film addresses McCombs and Shaw’s theory of Agenda-Setting in multiple ways. The most direct way to see the connection is by examining the reporter’s story. Much like a tabloid, the story makes public some intimate details about Nick, such as his friendship with the “MOD Squad” – short for “Merchants of Death.” The group of friends meets weekly for lunch, bickering about whose job is the most difficult; the group is made up of Nick, a lobbyist for the alcohol business, and a lobbyist for a pro-gun association. Although most would not disagree that bragging about the number of deaths associated with the product you represent is a class-A citizen sort-of-thing to do, this detail destroys Nick’s public relations and ends his job because the media decided it was a big deal; all in all, though, Reitman challenges the audience to evaluate whether or not Nick’s involvement with the MOD Squad is unethical or simply a little distasteful. Nick’s scandal is an example of what McCombs and Shaw discuss; in this case, the media tells the viewer what to care about.

                Another connection to Agenda-Setting arises when Nick visits Jeff, a man in marketing, about integrating cigarettes into films. At one point during their meeting, Nick asks Jeff if he will have any sort of moral issue promoting tobacco use in his films. Jeff replies that he would actually feel more of a moral problem if he decided not to promote tobacco use; he explains that working in the media, if he were to censor himself, it would be “morally presumptuous.” Jeff’s concept of determining what and what not is important for the audience is a reference to Agenda-Setting; if Jeff were to censor himself and his products because of a moral stance, he would be doing exactly what McCombs and Shaw described–he would be telling his audience what to think.

Here's the discussion from the film about what the media's role in determining public opinion should be. Enjoy!

                Throughout the film, the characters have to grapple with the media, determining how to spin their stories in good ways. In this way, the film relies extremely heavily on the manipulation of the media as well as the manipulation of the general public’s views. Although Reitman may not have explicitly had McCombs, Shaw, and Agenda-Setting in mind when he wrote his film, Thank You for Smoking dives straight into the topic, bringing the media’s ability to manipulate into the limelight–an ironic twist unto itself.

Works Cited

Thank You for Smoking. Dir. Jason Reitman. Perf. Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Aaron Eckhart, and Maria Bello. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006. DVD.

Griffin, Emory A. A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.