Thank You for Smoking

The Mod Squad’s members are headquartered in Washington, DC: the seat of United States federal government and the setting where they engage with elected officials in congressional offices, in subcommittee hearing rooms, and on shared stages at public meetings and media events. As lobbyists, their role is persuading legislators to vote for or develop legislation that favors the industries they represent—even when research, much of it funded by federal agencies, points to the detrimental effects of their products. While the specific organizations the Mod Squad members work for are fictitious, they parallel and satirize real-world organizations, such as the National Rifle Association, which lobbies on behalf of the gun industry.

As detailed in the novel, lobbying is a lucrative field, and there are significant financial incentives for industries to manipulate—or “spin”—research that casts them in a negative light. Buckley highlights the wealth behind the lobbying industry when he describes Nick’s workplace on Avenue K, in the heart of Washington’s legislative activity, as having

a ten-story atrium with balconies dripping with ivy. The overall effect was that of an inside-out corporate Hanging Gardens of Babylon. A huge neo-deco-classical fountain on the ground floor provided a continuous and soothing flow of splashing white noise (7).