In Indonesia, the series 'Cigarette Girl' glamorizes the tobacco industry

Scheduled for the Netflix platform, the series "Cigarette Girl" depicts a rosy version of the clove cigarette (kretek) industry and its influence on Indonesian society. In fact, it contributes to normalizing tobacco use in an already extremely smoke-intensive country.

Inspired by the novel Gadis Kretek, by Ratih Kumala, the series "Cigarette Girl" has been on the Netflix streaming platform since November 2, 2023. The first Indonesian series produced by Netflix, its five episodes tell the story of a woman inventing new flavors for kreteks, clove cigarettes that are an Indonesian specialty. Severely criticized by public health actors, this series unfolds a glamorous vision of the local tobacco industry in the 1960s.

Beautification of the tobacco industry

The series, which has had some success, plays on many springs. It combines a sentimental intrigue and the "success story" of a young entrepreneur, highlighting the autonomy of women. In doing so, it perpetuates the confusion between smoking and feminist emancipation, which was fueled from the end of the 1920s by the tobacco industry to develop female smoking[1]. The series also maintains the illusion of hand-rolled kreteks and involving a multitude of local actors, whether they are farmers, workers or street dealers. However, these cigarettes have long been produced industrially, and only 20 % of them are still manufactured manually today.

The series also plays on the national fiber by praising the cultural heritage supposedly associated with kreteks. For Indonesian nationalist organizations, kreteks are indeed considered a form of cultural resistance to Western cigarettes, and the fight against smoking is equated with a form of colonial propaganda.[2].

Kreteks, particularly harmful cigarettes

The market for kreteks followed closely behind that of other cigarettes, these products having been designed around 1880 and marketed from 1906.[3]. These cigarettes are made up of tobacco, a mixture of cloves and an aromatic "sauce" including, among other things, spices. The nicotine concentration is generally higher than in other cigarettes and this nicotine diffuses more quickly into the blood.

The belief that kreteks are less harmful than conventional cigarettes is false; the presence of eugenol in cloves has a slight anesthetic and analgesic effect. This facilitates deep and prolonged inhalations and causes disorders as severe as with conventional cigarettes (cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, etc.)[4]The role of initiating young people to smoking and acting as a gateway to smoking are two of the identified effects of kreteks.

Tobacco multinationals dominate the kretek market

The market for conventional cigarettes, which was still dominant a few decades ago, has now shrunk in Indonesia, where 90% of cigarettes smoked are now kreteks. The tobacco multinationals (Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International) have followed this trend, buying up many small kretek producers and becoming the main players in this market.

Indonesia, one of the few countries in the world that has not ratified the WHO treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is considered a haven by the tobacco industry. The market is attractive: the second largest tobacco market in the world, smoking prevalence is very high (33.8 % on average, including nearly 63 % among men) and it continues to increase. Legislation is not very restrictive and poorly applied, and the authorities are divided on the attitude to adopt towards this industry. With 290,000 annual deaths due to tobacco, Indonesia nevertheless pays a heavy price for tobacco.

In this perspective, health professionals have strongly criticized the series "Cigarette Girl", which endorses the idea of a society acquired by tobacco and seems happy to be so. The series nevertheless highlights the dramatic medical consequences of smoking, but relegates them only to the elderly and only emphasizes the glamorous side for the youngest. It therefore acts in the direction of the normalization of tobacco, which encourages some health professionals to call for its ban for minors, and not only for those under 13.[5]. Like product placements at the cinema, this series seems to contribute to the development of the tobacco epidemic. Comments noted on social networks indicate that the series would encourage young people to start smoking.

Keywords: Indonesia, Cigarette Girl, Netflix, kretek, cloves, standardization

M.F.

[1] Torches of Freedom Campaign, University of Ottawa, digital History, accessed November 29, 2023.

[2] Welker M, Netflix's 'Cigarette Girl' Promotes Big Tobacco Interests in Indonesia, The Messenger, published November 25, 2023, accessed November 29, 2023.

[3] Kretek, Wikipedia, updated May 10, 2022, accessed November 29, 2023.

[4] Martin T, What Are Clove Cigarettes?, VerywellMind, published February 9, 2023, accessed November 29, 2023.