#16- Don't Smoke!

                Wow… that’s intense. I’ve been seeing these advertisements and commercials around pretty often lately. They are created to discourage people from smoking cigarettes. They are very effective on me, and I think the same goes for other people.

            Now, I’ve never in my entire life considered smoking. I have been educated on the very harmful and dangerous effects that smoking can have on a person’s long-term health. However, I imagine that for some people, this can be a very eye-opening ad. Many people know that it is bad for you, but some don’t know just how bad, and addicting, it can be. They think that they will just be able to do it a little bit and nothing will happen, but that’s just not true.

            One way that this ad is effective is by showing the picture of the woman who is a former smoker. Her hair and most of her face look like any other person’s. However, parts of her mouth as disfigured and she has a hole in the base of her throat. These are some of the effects of smoking on one’s health. By showing a normal woman, who looks very average aside from the effects of smoking, the advertisers are showing the viewer that this can happen to anyone. This uses the Plain Folks Ad technique. You can see a picture of a son or grandson in the background and nothing about it looks abnormal.

At the bottom of the picture, it lists her name, Terrie, and her age, 52. By telling her name, the advertisers established a personal connection between the viewer and this woman. She is not just any woman. She is a woman named Terrie who has a family. She could be any smoker. Also, they show her age. She is only 52, which is very young to start having major health problems. Her age shows how harmful the effects of smoking can be even for people who are very old.

This advertisement also uses the Need to Satisfy Curiosity. When people see the woman and the text, they are not exactly sure what the advertisement is for. You must focus on the entire picture and on the text at the top to understand what the ad is about. This is very important because many people would just ignore an ad about the harmful long-term effects of smoking on one’s body.

Now we will get to the focus of the ad. At the very top of the page, there is a little black box with text inside that reads “A tip from a former smoker.” This establishes common ground between the woman and the viewer, who is potentially a smoker. The focus of the advertisement is the large, white text in the middle of the page. It reads “Record your voice for your loved ones while you still can.” (Smoking can cause irreversible damage which results in a tool necessary to speak and an altered voice.) This woman is telling the viewer that smoking is very bad and that there are things that she can’t do now, like speak to her family with her real voice, that she could do before the smoking caused damage. Also, she says “…for your loved ones….” This brings it to the family level. She is not just another woman. She has a family that she can’t communicate with the way she would like.

This ad demonstrates the harmful effects of smoking. It is a very good advertisement and it supports a good message. Overall, I think that this advertisement is very effective.