Ethical Issues of Thank You for Smoking

In the movie "Thank You for Smoking" the smoking industry is coming under the attack from Senator Finistirre over putting a skull and crossbones on all the packs of cigarettes. The smoking industry has created the "The Academy for Tobacco Studies" with researchers to prove that there are no problems with smoking. The main character Nick Nalor's job, the chief Spokesperson for Big Tobacco, is to discredit all the problems associated with smoking to the public. He had a relationship with a reporter, Heather, thinking that she would not write anything bad about him or anyone associated with the smoking industry. She backstabbed him. He forced an invitation from the senator to appear at a congressional hearing. Nick Nalor convinced enough people to not put the skull and crossbones on the cigarettes. Then he quit his job right before the smoking industry paid out millions to judgments against it and forced many out of their jobs. There were many ethical issues in this movie. One is when Nick was on the talk show there was a boy that had cancer at the age of 15 from smoking. He, Nick, turned the situation around to make it seem that the industry would not make any money of a product that kills people. Since there is no concrete evidence that smoking is addictive or harmful then it must be OK. When he meets with the "Death Squad" they all know that each of their products alcohol, guns and tobacco appeal to young people a kills many each year but they continue to defend them. Nick teaches his son that nothing can be totally proven. So if you argue your point enough you can never be wrong. Also he promotes teen advertising that promotes not smoking but it can't be too persuasive. He takes his son on a trip to California to get smoking back in movies by popular actors. He is then sent to pay off the "Marlboro Man" his son is there with him when he tells the guy that this is to keep him quiet. Senator Finisher primary objective is to attack the industry at all costs. He has Nick kidnapped and patches put all over him to convince him the consequences of smoking. The actions of the Nick made the smoking industry make billions of dollars off of the sale of cigarettes. Thus making and keeping jobs for people. The stockholders were making money in the stock market. Nick was making cigarettes seem OK through the media until the newspaper article came out and told many secrets about multiple people and the smoking industry. Senator Finnister was using his congressional power to take down the industry. He was using the media and special interest groups to go along with him on proving the dangers of smoking. Heather made the paper widely read because of here article on Nick, probably helping the shareholder make money. The customers that bought the paper were informed of what went on behind closed doors. Nick ultimately cost the smoking industry millions of dollars in lawsuits. He caused everyone to be exposed for what they really were when he trusted the newspaper woman. It ultimately caused him to lose his job. Senator Finnister lost his clout with Congress. He then went on to try and change a multitude of different causes including trying to take cigarettes out of old pictures and replacing them with different things. Heather was embarrassed publicly by Nick about the affair. She apparently lost her job with the paper cause at the end of the movie she was a news reporter for a TV station. Nick finally saw that he did not care or need the smoking industry to make money for himself. He has his own company that helps companies with relations to the consumer. The smoking industry found out that they need to be honest with the public about their product because ultimately they will find out. The senator did get the message out about the harmful effects of smoking. It changed the way people look at cigarettes and the smoking industry.