Research shows that 34.8% of male and 26.4% of the females here in Nepal are seriously addicted to smoking according to WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic. Even with the government of Nepal banning cigarette smoking in public areas, the rule has yet to come to an action.
With the popularity of magazine and mass media, photographs are also another way of how people are influenced. Though advertisement of cigarettes has been banned in Nepal but the photographs of models posing with a cigarette lite up in their hand or their lips has yet to get banned.
Generally it is believed that smoking of tobacco is common in Nepal regardless of age
and sex of people. With no restriction of age, the suppliers sell cigarettes and other tobacco related substances without any hesitation. The other reason for smoking seems to be influence of family member or other senior member of the family who smoke. Other reasons cites were personal inquisitiveness, one's own liking of smoke, stress and influence of siblings or friends.
With the above cited reasons, one of the main and most popular reason also happens to be influence by the media. People are generally easily influenced by the "coolness" of the fiction character they see on TV and movies and admire. This happens usually to group with the age ranging from 14. In movies, the scenes are usually directed in a way where an actor is portrait to be carefree, rebellious, heroic and cool with a cigarette by his hands. Kids and also adults are easily inspired by the things they watch since the height of realism of fiction character these days are so high.
Not only movies but also songs, there are good number of people now that if asked "How and Why" they are to name some song that refers smoking a cigarette. If not so, they are surely to answer as "This song and a cigarette just goes along together". Some songs like "Blue Sunday" by Tom Petty, "Smokin' in the boys' room" by Brownsville Station, "Who we are" by Bad Religion, "Cigarette" by Ben Folds Five, "Lolita" by Stereophonics, "Smoke, smoke, smoke" by Lee Richards and "Smoking too long" by The Placebo are some of the songs where the singers actually sing about smoking a cigarettes as a way of solving your problems, forgetting someone you lost, getting over a break up and way of having fun.
With the popularity of magazine and mass media, photographs are also another way of how people are influenced. Though advertisement of cigarettes has been banned in Nepal but the photographs of models posing with a cigarette lite up in their hand or their lips has yet to get banned.
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