Salman explained that young people smoke to show off

The Bollywood movie star, Salman Khan has announced his intention to quit smoking! This news follows a similar successful attempt from his fellow Bollywood star Shah Khan who quit smoking last year. Salman had plenty of advice for other smokers and particularly warned that you should never start smoking because you could end up reaching a stage where it becomes almost impossible to quit.

The Bollywood movie industry is incredibly powerful in India and the leading stars in films are hero worshipped by the Indian people. The fact that Indian movie stars quit smoking will send a big message to loyal fans to dump their habit and get healthy. At Ukmedix News we have seen how impressionable young people perceive smoking to be cool because movie stars that they look up to smoke too.

Salman explained that young people smoke to show off and also because it makes them feel part of a group and he hopes that by quitting himself he will encourage dozens of others to quit too. In Hollywood smoking is often portrayed as being cool in movies and the good guys light up frequently on screen which has been criticised by antismoking campaigners. 

Some movie production companies such as Disney have made a pledge not to allow smoking to be glorified in any way in their movies and will only allow smoking to appear if it is shown in a bad light. For example if a pathetic and weak character in a film smokes they will allow it, but they will not allow the leading men or women to portray smoking as being fashionable or cool.

Ukmedix News has written tons of stories about celebrity smoking and their quit attempts. We believe that the majority of people smoke because they perceive it to be hip as opposed to actually enjoying the smoking and end up becoming addicted by mistake. Celebrities must understand the power that they have to help people quit and to send a positive message to young people never to start.