The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - "Hot girls don’t eat. They smoke”

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

the aesthetic of smoking is coming back- and that's not allLearn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited🧡 Threads https://www.threads.net/@zoeunlimited 💛 Snap https://www.snapchat.com/add/thezoeunlimited👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail]//🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro1:50 Cigarettes and feminism4:17 Smoking back in style7:19 Romanticization of smoking 8:06 Galmorization 10:01 An Identity Gap11:31 A culture of Addiction

Smoking is cool again for the wrong reasons. Do you want to have lunch? No, I'll have a cigarette. Not a day has gone by in the last five years where I haven't consumed nicotine in some form. So as of recently, I've been noticing a trend on the rise and it is a little concerning to me. Now, this is not a video to judge anybody who partakes in this activity, but it relates to a much deeper problem I want to discuss. later. So as of late, whenever I attend an event or party, I've been noticing a lot of people

smoking. Yes, historically, there have always been people smoking jewels here and there, but lately it's been done more and more frequently and more in the public. To the point that I get asked by three different people in one night, if I have vape on me. Now, I don't smoke anything, but that does not make me any better than anyone who does. And honestly, good for them for having a good time and feeling comfortable with that. Nothing wrong with that because they're not forcing anyone to join them. But if you take a quick glance at the current pop culture, you'll start to notice that the aesthetics of smoking is making a comeback.

Ew, this is so cringe. Guilty. From people's favorite celebrities like Duolipa, Lily Rose Depp, and Jenna Ortega, to influencers on TikTok, in Instagram. So today, let's talk about how cigarettes came into style, how the smoking aesthetic is back in style, the romanticization of smoking, with its ties to heroin chic, and the addiction culture we live in today. Cigarettes and feminism. The feminine urge to smoke a pack of cigarettes in a New York City cooling, not in a nicotine addiction.

In the 19th and 20th century, the industry of tobacco and booze had very, very, very, very little room for women. In fact, in 1908, New York City rendered women smoking completely illegal for two weeks. Cigarettes were gendered masculine by advertisers, or working class, and alternative or bohemian at best. In 1923, women only purchased 5% of cigarettes sold, which increased to 12% in 1935, then peaked in 1965 at 33.3%. The way cigarettes became accepted, then popular amongst female demographic was through, believe it or not, first wave feminism. On March 31st, 1929, at the height of Easter parade, a young woman named Bertha Hunt, stepped out into the crowded 5th Avenue and created a scandal by lighting a cigarette.

At the time when no woman was to ever smoke in public. And a few strides down the block, she was soon joined by a few other women, each with a cigarette in their hands that created quite a spectacle at the parade. the next day raved about this rebellious action, noted by the press as women suffrages, lighting up the quote-unquote torches of freedom to show that they were equal to men. And cigarettes took over the country as a newfound symbol of sexual liberation as a form of control. What the press didn't know was that Bertha Hunt was Edward Bernays' secretary, and Edward Bernays was hired by the president of the American Tobago Company to crack open the female market.

And no, it was not by accident. That each of the 10 women striding down Fifth Avenue, lighting the torch of freedom, lit a lucky strike cigarette. The appeal to women's desire for equality increased as smoking rose from taboo to trend from the 1920s to 1965. Even feminist icons like Eleanor Roosevelt, the first lady smoked publicly. In films and magazines, women's smoking cigarettes slowly rose to a signal of sophistication and independence. Smoking back in style. Smoking for the least to say was never truly out of style. It changes to the form of vaping which had its prime surge through the last decade

and shifted back to cigarettes being cool again. I don't know if anyone was as shocked as I was, but in one of her recent podcast episodes, Emma Chamberlain revealed how she has been dealing with nicotine addiction for years and is working on overcoming it. Not a day has gone by in the last five years where I haven't consumed nicotine in some form. And recently I decided that I want to try to quit.

Prior to this point in my life, I wasn't ready to quit. I was never proud of my. my nicotine addiction. In fact, I was always kind of ashamed of my nicotine addiction. First, I find it really commendable for Emma to open up about her vaping experience as she said herself that she struggled a lot with both internal and external shaming around her smoking, which I have a lot of compassion for and a lot of respect for her just opening up about that whole experience. Because growing up almost anywhere for me, both in Asia and in North America, the education system will make sure to paint this nasty, ugly, scary picture of smoking.

Showing little children pitch black lungs from smokers and ugly yellow teeth to warn us away from this activity. And I don't think I need to tell anybody the harms of smoking, for we are all extremely aware. But awareness does not immediately convert to actions. And for those who do want to quit nicotine like Emma, putting extra shame around smoking isn't helping anybody. It just creates additional stressors that might push them to resort to nicotine as an emotional outlet. But since the mainstream consensus is that smoking is bad, that makes it all the more cool. Celebrities and others are celebrating a quote-unquote rebel counterculture. It is a way for young people who are looking for an identity to grab at anything that will provide them that.

And media as a source of providing guidance for identity is a major fuel for this uprising trend. Truth Initiative's latest study on smoking and entertainment found that 60% of the 15 most popular shows among 15 to 24 year olds contain depictions of tobacco in 2021. According to a study by the University of Chicago, 47% of top films released in 2021 depicted tobacco imagery. The impact of this becomes very concerning when we consider how, according to Dartmouth Medical School research, young people who have been experienced, supposed to smoking via entertainment are three times more likely to try or take up smoking. Romanticization of smoking.

Perhaps the wellness era is truly at its end. For culture is tired of seeing more celery juices, green smoothies, Pilates, Pilates, Hot Yogas, and multivitamins. Pulp culture, like fashion, goes in cycles. At the end of the health era signals the return of the unhealthy. where celebrities like Lily Rose Depp pose for paparazzi with a cigarette in her hand. Which is interesting because allegedly, a photographer told The Guardian. For decades, stars have asked him to delete photos he took of them smoking,

and today they're deliberately lighting up. With everything and anything taboo, such as plastic surgery, there's always a healthy spectrum of normalization until it becomes glamorization. Glamorization. From Audrey Hepburn to Marilyn Monroe to Gail Patrick, iconic beauties with a cigarette just make their beauty all the more fragile, more deep. Compared to the reality of what the average smoker looks like, the cigarette and dainty palms create a more so elegant look. And there's also the romanticization of how an iconic French woman slim and stylish with a cigarette in her hands furthers the trope that smoking is sexy. Smoking comes with cloths and grace, vintage, and throwback aesthetics are all the rage.

I was definitely born in the wrong generation. Like, seriously. What, you were supposed to be born in the 50s? Yes. The 1850s. And the cultural spiral back to skinny culture goes hand in hand with cigarette culture. The idealization ties deeper with the obsession with a slim physique. As blatantly displayed in Emily in Paris,

as Savie doesn't eat lunch. but smokes packs of cigarette and stays the stylish, slim French woman she is. And that comes with some degree of dangerous truth. Where smoking is an appetite suppressant and causes the body to use up 7 to 15% more energy. Hence, smoking is almost always associated with some type of skinny-oriented aesthetic. Such as Heroin Chic or Emo Grunge Beauty. I'm saying you're a kid, it's like saying I'm a kid. Here's your goober meal, sir.

I'm supposed to get a toy with this. Thanks. To say the least, there is a romanticization of the aesthetic of the unwell. The appeal of women and men under this aesthetic who look malnourished, sleep deprived, and melancholic. All of this to fill up the void of an identity gap. Gen Z is all about self-branding and bringing back old trends. They smoke because it's edgy, reminds them. of icons in the past decades adds to their self-brand and has an aesthetic they crave.

Quote, especially going to an art school, cigarettes are more of the vibe than vapes, it makes you look cooler, and we love our self-image. So if it's all about image, then this two shall pass very soon, like all the other micro-trends that rose within the last few years, right? Just like the Clean Girl aesthetic and ugs. Actually, not quite. Quote, people think they can just do this and it won't affect them, says Susan Whitburn, professor at the University of Massachusetts, Emhurst.

This slippery slope exists between social smoking and smoking, and because of the nature of addictions, it's very hard to break one completely. The danger of viewing smoking as an aesthetic comes down to a few different parts. First, once it becomes intertwined with an identity, just like healthy habits, it stays. Second, for someone who just wants to look cool and trendy by smoking a cigarette or two, while posting that on Instagram, maybe it won't be just one or two. Maybe it is the beginning of a slippery slope to something farther from the individual's original intent. I don't want to live life with regrets, but you know what?

That was a regret. If that sounds familiar at all, it is because it is prevalent in pulp culture today. A culture of addiction. Smoking and vaping are just a very much. two of the many forms of addictions in our society today. Other forms that many are guilty of, including myself, include surfing on the internet. Mindlessly scrolling on TikTok, mindlessly spending time caring about people on social media who have nothing to do with our lives.

Mindlessly drinking alcohol. Mindlessly eating and snacking. I myself am in no better position to judge anybody else because I sometimes go down a mindlessly snacking rabbit hole just because I don't want to work. Or go on TikTok to check something and then get pulled away from one video to the next. And I am so not a fan of that whole experience because it feels like I have very little control over that drug of choice, whether if it's the internet or snacking. And it is quite alarming how prone genzies are to addiction nowadays.

According to the National Addiction Center, Zoomers actually run a higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem than previous age groups. So what I'm seeing the most of among Zoomers or Gen Z are dabs and street carts, THC, that's the number one most abused substance. You know, a lot of this is due to self-treatment for anxiety and depression. You know, Gen Z we see quite a bit of depression in that age group compared to other age groups. We might drink less, but are more prone to other types of substance abuse.

And this stems from how our generation is more exposed to, You guessed it, social media. The quick answer to the higher chances of addiction stems from this generation's loneliness and obsession with social media. As a generation bombarded with information across the internet, information that is both relevant and information that does more harm than good, that create anxiety about the worrisome future, about body image, about our self-worth, we are in a hub of constantly giving our mental space,

to millions of strangers on the internet, yet connecting to none, with every source telling us a different version of who we should be. One day as that girl, the next as a high-value woman, then the next as a stay-at-home girlfriend, then the next as a heroine-cheek, cool girl, every individual is facing some type of identity crisis. And as a generation so hyper-focused on individuality and identity-building, we are more susceptible than ever to the next,

cool mask we are going to put on ourselves. And that mask right now is the mysterious, vintage, romantic smoker. Except once it leads to a nicotine addiction, the mask will no longer come off and merge into a permanent identity. As social animals that crave a sense of belonging, Gen Z's like all other generations desire connection. But with most of our interactions online these days, the sense of belonging we crave are rooted in how well we fit into the internet culture. Are we in the trend or out of the trend? Do we belong or are we an outcast? And that is why TikTok and Instagram are still so popular. Despite everyone knowing a thing or two

about how harmful they could be, the irony is that we are all to some extent living the loneliness epidemic together, but in our own separate ways. So if you haven't yet today, just call or better yet visit in person, a friend or a family member, and just tell them how much you miss them and have been thinking about them. Don't we all wish someone we care about would do that for us? So why not take that first steps ourselves? All right, that is all I have for today. Thank you for hanging out. In case if you haven't heard it yet today, I want to tell you that you are very special and I am thinking of you. If you're new to the channel, I make a lot of commentaries and growth-related videos so check them out and i will see you next week