Lucky Strikes and Aversion from Happiness 

Andrew Koonce

In many cultures, it is customary to avoid happiness because people in these cultures believe that bad things are more likely to happen to happy people. Knowing this, people need to decide whether or not any given form of happiness or pleasure is actually worth pursuing because it may be likely that unhappiness will follow. When determining whether or not a specific form of happiness is worthy of pursuit, one must subject the happiness in question to the four aversion tests created by Joshanloo and Weijers in their article “Aversion to Happiness across Cultures.” The first test is determining whether or not the form of happiness in question will make it more likely for bad things to happen to you.  The second test is determining whether or not the form of happiness can make someone a worse person.  The third test is determining whether or not expressing the given form of happiness is bad for the person and others. The final test is to determine if pursuing form of happiness is bad for the person and other people. When these four tests are applied to a to a 1920’s advertisement for Lucky Strike Cigarettes, one comes to the conclusion that the happiness promised by the ad is actually not worth pursuing at all because it fails all of the aforementioned tests. Smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes makes it more likely that bad things will happen to you because of the terrible health risks that one faces from smoking. Smoking Lucky Strikes will also make you a worse person because truly pursuing the advertised form of happiness will make you a selfish person and being selfish is not a desirable trait. Pursuing the form of happiness advertised by Lucky Strike is bad for you and others because secondhand smoke can be as dangerous as actually smoking the cigarette ("What Are the Risk Factors for Lung Cancer?" 2016).  

In an advertisement from the year 1929, the cigarette company “Lucky Strike” claims that a person can maintain a slender figure by using “Lucky Strike” brand cigarettes. The ad features a woman seated at a table blowing smoke out of her mouth after having inhaled from a “Lucky Strike” cigarette. Above the woman’s head in bold black letters is written, “To keep a slender figure, no one can deny… reach for a Lucky Strike instead of a sweet” (Lucky Strike ad). This may be very attractive to some people as they may consider staying slim to be a form of happiness. The first aversion test is determining whether or not it is more likely for bad things to happen to someone who pursues this form of happiness and the answer is obviously yes. This test is very similar to the Taoist view of happiness which states that “things tend to revert to their opposite” and “happiness tends to be accompanied by...unhappiness” (Joshanloo and Weijers 268). If the given form of happiness does in fact make it more likely for bad things to the person who will be subject to the happiness, it is very likely that the happiness is not worthy of pursuit. It is common knowledge today that smoking cigarettes causes a variety of health problems so buying this product makes it much more likely that a number of bad things can happen to a person. According to the CDC, people who smoke cigarettes are at least 15 times more likely to contract and die from lung cancer than someone who does not smoke and most people would agree that lung cancer is in fact a bad thing ("What Are the Risk Factors for Lung Cancer?" 2016). Although the thought of pursuing the goal of a slender figure may bring someone happiness in the short-term, the long-term health effects that cigarettes have on people is certainly not worth the short-term gratification that will come from being slim. 

The second aversion test asks whether or not pursuing the form of happiness will make you a worse person.  In Muslim cultures, it is a commonly held belief that being happy can actually make someone morally a worse person. The prophet Muhammad is believed to have told his followers to, “avoid laughter, for much laughter deadens the heart” and followers of the Shiite ideology associate happiness with shallowness, selfishness, and vulgarity (Joshanloo and Weijers 271). In Buddhism, pursuing happiness is considered a very self-centered act, and buying Lucky Strike cigarettes because they promise to keep you thin is an action that can only benefit the person who buys the product. This makes anyone who buys the cigarettes being advertised a worse person because acting selfishly makes you a worse person according to the teachings of Buddhism and Islam.  

The third test asks if expressing the advertised form of happiness is bad for the person and others, and the answer to this question is also yes for a number of reason. In many Asian cultures, people are concerned about potentially causing unhappiness in other by expressing their own happiness and this may deter some people from pursuing certain forms of happiness. In these cultures, outwardly expressing happiness or displaying success could cause people around you to become jealous and creating jealousy can lead to a guilty conscience (Joshanloo and Weijers 273). If a person that buys the Lucky Strike cigarettes in an attempt to stay thin actually stays thin, simply existing as a slender person could be viewed as outwardly displaying their successful attempt to stay thin buy using the advertised cigarettes. This may cause the people around them to become envious and the envy from these people could cause the “positive feelings associated with happiness [to] be offset by negative feelings of guilt” thus making the expression of the advertised happiness bad for the person and the people around him (Joshanloo and Weijers 273). 

The ad also fails the final test which asks whether or not pursuing the advertised form of happiness is bad for the person and others. According to teachings of Buddhism, pursuing happiness, “can make a person more selfish and thereby have negative effects on the well-being of others” (Joshanloo and Weijers 274). In traditional Chinese culture, it is best to contribute to society, but pursuing happiness in the form of being slim is not contributing to society, and Buddhism and Chinese cultures would find that shameful. This also harms others in a passive sense because if you are not actively helping people, you are neglecting them, so pursuing this form of happiness is bad for everyone. Pursuing this form of happiness is also bad for other people because of the detrimental health effects “secondhand smoke” has on the people who are exposed to it. According to the American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke greatly increases a person's risk for lung cancer even if the person has never smoked before, so by smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes to get slim you are not only acting selfishly but also affecting the health of the people around you (Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke). This cigarette ad, although very attractive, promises a form of happiness that, according to the four aversion tests, is simply not worthy of being pursued and anyone who feels compelled to purchase Lucky Strike cigarettes in the hopes of maintaining a slender figure is better off saving their 14 dollars.  

Through my analysis of this advertisement and how it relates to aversion of happiness, I have come to realize that the cultures that believe it is not always good to pursue happiness and that the best option is to sometimes avert from happiness are actually correct. When it comes to the promised form of happiness being a slender figure, this is not a type of happiness that is worth pursuing. In this case, the East Asian cultures that believe happiness is usually followed by unhappiness are correct in their assumption because by smoking “Lucky Strike” cigarettes for a slender figure, you increase your risk of lung cancer by 15 times, and also increase the risk for the people around you to be affected by tobacco smoke related illnesses. Although you may be initially happy at the thought of pursuing a slender body, the long-term health effects that are associated with smoking the advertised product will surely bring the consumer long-term unhappiness.  

As this advertisement relates to Aristotle, smoking these cigarettes in order to achieve or maintain a slender figure is not a way for a person to pursue eudaimonia and Aristotle would agree that this form of happiness is not worth pursuing. Aristotle believed that happiness was actively working towards anything that could stand alone and be viewed as good. He called this “eudaimonic” happiness. This is in contrast to “hedonic” happiness which is the result of an action that brings immediate and usually physical pleasure. When you apply these views of happiness to the “Lucky Strike” advertisement, one will come to realize that the promised form of happiness in the ad is a perfect example of hedonic happiness and is therefore something that Aristotle would not approve of. The ad promises that the act of smoking will bring you happiness in the form of a slender figure, and having a slender figure can be viewed as a physical pleasure or a pleasure of the senses. Pursuing this advertised form of happiness cannot be viewed as eudaimonic because being slim is a hedonic pleasure and not a self-sufficient good. Aristotle uses the term self-sufficient to describe something that “when isolated makes life desirable and lacking in nothing” and being slim alone is not a self-sufficient good, so smoking “Lucky Strike” cigarettes is not a form of eudaimonia. (Aristotle 83). 

Aristotle and the East Asian cultures referenced in Joshanloo and Weijers’ article, “Aversion to Happiness Across Cultures” are both correct in their definitions of what makes a form of happiness worth pursuing. People in many East Asian cultures chose to avert from many forms of hedonic happiness in fear of what will happen to them if they actively pursue them, and Aristotle believes that only things that can stand alone as good are worthy of pursuit.  If you combine these two perceptions of happiness, one will find that they are actually quite compatible. By averting from hedonic happiness and only pursuing things that are self-sufficient, you can adhere to both the East Asian and the Aristotelian views of happiness, and both schools of thought would agree that being slim is not a goal worthy of pursuit and that “Lucky Strike” cigarettes are not a means to a self-sufficient end. 

Bibliography

Parfitt, Matthew, and Dawn Skorczewski. Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martain's, 2016. Print.  

"Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke." Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2016. 

"What Are the Risk Factors for Lung Cancer?" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016.