Week 3 EOC: Tobacco Advertisements

This framed scenario of this tobacco advertisement shows a woman and a man seemingly sharing a cigarette and looking into each others eyes provocatively. The catch phrase is "blow in her face, and she'll follow you anywhere." This represents the times in the 50's when women were considered property and beneath men. An effective ad is driven by the underlying concept. An advertising idea— or concept—is the creative reasoning behind a solution. The concept determines the resulting message: what you say and how you design. Though your concept or idea may be broad, it is foundational. If you wanted to catch a woman's attention you would blow smoke in her face as if perhaps she enjoyed the smell of smoke, but no one would know because they wouldn't ask women for their opinions.  The goal of this advertisement is to attract men into buying cigarettes. Once upon a time, the rich, sweetly pungent smoke of tobacco offered more than dreary old diseases like emphysema and lung cancer. It promised sophistication, sex appeal, even longevity itself. 
Usually men in the 50's needed to find a wife after college, provide for their families, and be successful in their careers. Smoking was glamorized and seemingly successful men were featured on these ads attracting beautiful women by smoking. The box containing a description of what the cigarette features includes taste, appearance, price, and a reword of the ad's catch phrase to solidify the viewers interest.



Here is a current advertisement in 2012 of the famous camel on cigarette boxes. The framed scenario here shows "Joe Chemo" in a hospital hallway holding an ivy machine, seemingly he has cancer from years of smoking tobacco. Meet Joe Chemo, a camel who wishes he'd never smoked cigarettes. Joe is having trouble feeling COOL these days, now that he's lost most of his hair. Worst of all, Joe just realized that he's been manipulated all his life by tobacco companies. Poor guy -- his tobacco IQ never was very high. The goal of this advertisement is to make viewers aware of how damaging smoking can be. The creator of this ad was brilliant to take an icon used for decades that sold millions of cigarettes to people, who some are probably experiencing medical treatment also. Most tobacco agencies usually rely on the fact that there isn't any proof that cigarettes cause cancer, but medical research has proven that cigarettes can cause serious health problems.
Among the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 69 can cause cancer. These cancer-causing chemicals include the following:

• Arsenic
• Benzene
• Beryllium (a toxic metal)
• 1,3–Butadiene (a hazardous gas)
• Cadmium (a toxic metal)
• Chromium (a metallic element)
• Ethylene oxide
• Nickel (a metallic element)
• Polonium-210 (a radioactive chemical element)
• Vinyl chloride

Even though cigarettes are considered the leading cause of cancer, people still smoke. Bravo to the tobacco advertising agencies that have instilled the idea that smoking is cool for generations to come.

http://www.joechemo.org/
www.dumpert.nl 
http://www.chickenhead.com/truth/
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation