ad analysis of smoking advertisement
...ads, “Tobacco is Whacko if you’re a Teen”. Disguised in very small lettering at the bottom of the page is the promoter of this ad, Lorillard Tobacco Company’s Youth Smoking Prevention Program. It is clearly targeted towards kids between the ages of eleven to eighteen. Although this may appear to be an effective ad, it really is not. A contributing factor to the failure of this ad is its pathos because it does not contain many appeals to emotions. The advertisement does try to appeal to one’s sense of humor, when in actuality smoking should be looked at in a serious manner. A reader may look at this ad and laugh because it can be considered humorous that the boy is choking from smoking. This clearly does not entice one to stop smoking. This kind of hypocrisy from the tobacco companies needs to be recognized and not tolerated. The creators of this ad lead one to believe that they care about teenagers, but what about adults? Why is it bad for kids, yet acceptable for adults to smoke? This company is trying to send a positive message to teenagers, yet there is no use in doing this if they are still selling carcinogenic products to adults. The second aspect of this ad, the logos, was very well thought out and strategically placed in the magazine. The Lorillard Tobacco Company knew the audience that needed to be reached by this advertisement: teenagers. Teen People Magazine is read by many different kinds of kids, and the company knew that teenagers would see this article if it was placed in the right magazine. But it is not a very effective ad. According to research done by the University of California, advertising portrayals that all but declare smokers to be unattractive human beings do not make effective anti-smoking messages and, in fact, offend both teens and adults. Viewers thought the ads that did this made superficial character judgments. With this particular advertisement, the boy who appears to be sickly from smoking does not appeal to one’s logic. Nobody will think that this is what he or she will look like if they smoke. In small, white print at the bottom of the page contains the website for this advertisement: www.buttoutnow.com. This is another hypocritical portion of the ad. Although the company appears to be putting out an effective anti-smoking ad for teens, they are really rebuking the authority figures. It just happens to be the government that they are snubbing, telling them to “butt out”. One very noticeable, contradictory statement in this ad is the “if you’re a teen” part of the slogan. Composed of smaller print than the “Tobacco is Whacko” part, it was obviously meant to have less emphasis. It is almost as if they want to say emphatically, “TABACCO IS WHACKO”, and then whisper, “if you’re a teen”. Nowhere on the ad does it display the consequences of smoking. The conniving Lorillard Tobacco Company cannot be trusted to have the people’s best interest at heart. As far as ethos is concerned, or credibility and background, the advertisement contains no character and there is nothing credible about a cartoon drawing of a young boy trying a cigarette. This is an attempt on the tobacco company’s part to make right a severe wrong that they are causing people. It appears to be putting out a good message for teens to not smoke, but there are ulterior motives behind this ad. If this tobacco company were really trying to sway teens to not smoke, they would have put a little more effort into this display. ...