Nick Naylor: Relationship Between The Cigarette Company

Nick Naylor is a Public Relations Guru. It is his primary job to build a strong relationship between the Cigarette Company he works for and the general public. His job is to promote smoking as a positive image to the public. To do this, he makes appearances on many talk shows to spread his propaganda to the masses. All he has to do is inspire the slightest doubt in your current belief, therefore making him the winner. Naylor says, “I proved that you’re wrong—and if you’re wrong, I’m right”. Placement marketing is another of Naylor’s responsibilities. He needs to make sure that cigarettes are seen in the hands of the most beautiful and most influential people in mainstream America; this way the rest of us will feel compelled to light up. In …show more content…
At the beginning of the movie, we meet a panel of guest on the Joan London Show. Her guests include the President of Mothers Against Teen Smoking, the Chairwoman of The Lung Association, Top Aide of Health and Human Services, Robin Williger (Cancer Boy), and Nick Naylor. We learn that fifteen-year-old Robin Williger has cancer. At first, the entire audience is against Naylor they begin to “boo” him and even spit toward the stage where he is sitting. Naylor is the first to speak, asking one question; what does big tobacco gain if Cancer Boy dies. His question is cold and completely inappropriate, however it causes the audience to stop and consider his side. What if Williger dies? If the boy, and others like him die Big Tobacco actually loses a customer, they will lose out on his consumerism. Unfortunately, Naylor is right. Clearly this is a ludicrous position to take. No one in their right mind would ever condone keeping someone with cancer alive a little longer just to increase their bottom line. Of course we want them to live, however we would never suggest that someone with lung cancer caused from smoking cigarettes continue …show more content…
He convinces an entire audience that it is acceptable to accept that if cancer boy lives this is the best outcome for Big Tobacco. When trying to bring sexy cigarettes back to the big screen, Naylor is told that the movie would have to be futuristic to make it believable. Only an audience who believes smoking is hazardous to their health would accept a movie set in the future depicting all of the dangers of smoking are merely a thing of the past. There are many warning labels on many things, some bad, some not, but the public still has the right to be notified of the potential risks they are allowing in their homes every day. My blow dryer has a warning label that tells me not to use it while sleeping, now I would never do this, but for the label to be there some poor unfortunate soul must have tried it. This claim takes away the public’s right to choose, which is Naylor’s main point in the first place. Without being given all of the information, how can a consumer begin to challenge the status