An Anti-Smoking Ad   Term Paper ID:43409 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: This paper is an analysis of an anti-smoking ad examining the ad's visual impact ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: This paper is an analysis of an anti-smoking ad, examining the ad's visual impact and the larger meaning behind it. Paper Introduction: An Anti-Smoking Ad In the anti-smoking ad an old woman appearing to be in her eightiesis lighting a cigarette from the flame on her birthday cake candles whichsay and the caption says Smoking Causes Premature Ageing Thesecandles are burning down hinting that the woman\'s years of life are ebbingaway quickly Although the cake has the words Happy Birthday written onit in icing these words are largely obscured by the prominent candles indicating that age is trumping the happy in Happy Birthday The Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The disclaimer at the bottom is again a tongue-in-cheek stand-in for the real Surgeon General's message at the bottom ofsmoking ads, which generally cautions smokers about the serious diseasesand conditions that can result from smoking. Nevertheless, there is still a strong message that smokingages and kills. The visual impactof the elderly woman grasping to light her cigarette is far more effectivethan stale warnings about the dangers of smoking. The audience targeted by the advertisement is smokers, and the ad isattempting to persuade them to stop smoking. In this case, however, the message is implied rather thanstated, since the ad only states that smoking ages people. In fact, the ad might get a laugh from the viewerbecause of the ludicrous notion that the woman pictured is claiming to be42 years old. The effectthat this blatant discrepancy is supposed to have on the viewer is toconvince him/her that smoking truly does cause premature ageing, but theextended message is "ageing and death." The skin cancers suggest that thecigarettes are killing the woman as fast as they are ageing her. This ad has been carefully crafted to deliver a powerfulmessage to its target audience, and this paper will examine the ad and whatit says, explaining how it says it. Works Cited"Smoking Causes Premature Ageing." The ad reallyreflects how the FDA's sanction, the cigarette companies' greed, and thecigarette smoker's addiction to cigarettes all combine to create asituation in which the smoker is trapped in a health-endangering habit. The emotional effects the ad is intended to have on the targetaudience include shock that the "42-year-old" woman looks to be over 8 , aswell as the emotional impact of seeing a woman destroy herself bycontinuing to smoke even after she is already manifesting serious signs ofaging and imminent death. People are awarethat smoking ages them and that it causes cancer, promoting early death,yet the cigarette industry still manages to market its products to themsuccessfully. She is seated, leaning forward over the cake with onegnarled hand placed on the table beside the cake to steady herself, aposition that suggests her eagerness to get the cigarette lit so that shecan smoke it. The woman's greedy lighting of the cigarette reflects the addictivenature of cigarettes and highlights the fact that cigarettes are a legaladdictive stimulant. The product being marketed in the ad, the cigarettes, are not beingmarketed with realism. There isa slight tongue-in-cheek quality to the ad, since it is clear that thewoman in the picture could not possibly be 42 years old. The ad is instead a jab at cigarette smoking and itsdeleterious effects. The brand is one that does not exist, so thecigarettes are a generic representation of cigarettes in general, used tomake a point. The advantageof a visual rather than textual warning is that it bypasses all of theviewer's defenses-emotional, mental, and political. Most smokers have heardrepeatedly that smoking causes cancer and that smoking kills, but theirdefenses go up when they read or hear messages to that effect, and theyblock them out. Partof the humor is that most people would not respond positively to an ad thatpromised they would age rapidly if they smoked the product, but there isalso a real tragedy in the fact that this occurs anyway. Although the cake has the words "Happy Birthday" written onit in icing, these words are largely obscured by the prominent "42"candles, indicating that age is trumping the "happy" in "Happy Birthday."The birthday cake is placed centrally with lighting on it, and the eyetravels from it to the woman, who has obvious age spots and skin cancers onher nose and hands. A visual image is"read" before the thought processes that usually enable an individual toignore or block out the meaning come into play. Thus, the ad cleverlybypasses the viewer's usual defenses and hits its mark. This adds a touchof humor and lightens the message somewhat so that it is not as hard forthe viewer to take. It serves as a reminder thatthere are physical consequences to smoking. Placing warnings on ads and packs of cigarettes has seemingly donenothing to reduce smoking, as smokers just ignore them. When an individualreceives information that he/she is not defended against, the informationgets through, hits its mark, and makes an impact. Underlying the ad's message is an insinuation thatthe woman has been spending her money for years on a product that isdestroying her youth and her health, yet she is hungry for more of it, asevidenced by her eager attitude in lighting the cigarette. An Anti-Smoking Ad In the anti-smoking ad, an old woman appearing to be in her eightiesis lighting a cigarette from the flame on her birthday cake candles, whichsay "42," and the caption says, "Smoking Causes Premature Ageing." Thesecandles are burning down, hinting that the woman's years of life are ebbingaway quickly. The fact that the fine printis illegible underscores the fact that smokers do not read these warningsanyway. The statement "Smoking Causes Premature Ageing" is an understatementin comparison with the stark contrast between the woman's alleged age of 42and her appearance, which suggests that she is at least 82. While doing all it can toprevent natural, wholesome products from being accepted, the FDA promotes awide variety of proven carcinogenic and otherwise blatantly unhealthfulproducts, such as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, hot dogs and otherlunchmeats, sugar and sugar-laden foods, and many more. Therefore, the humor is a two-edged sword depicting both theridiculousness of anyone paying their hard-earned money for a product thatruins their looks rather than helping them and that destroys their healthrather than building it, and the very real and damaging consequences. In its largest sense, the ad incriminates the FDA as well as thecigarette companies. It is marketing its products tothem knowing that they will suffer serious harm, and the smokers areseemingly accepting the premises relayed by smoking ads and continuing tobuy cigarettes as though they were blissfully unaware of the dangers. The viewer wants to ask her, "What are youdoing to yourself, and why are you doing that?" The larger message contained in the ad is that the cigarette industryis perpetrating a huge fraud on smokers. The outrage that the viewer feels at the sightof what cigarettes have done to the woman is only outweighed by the sightof her continuing to smoke. Although the FDA is regarded by most Americans asbeing their watchdog, preventing harmful products from entering the market,history proves that this is completely untrue. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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