The Real Cost Campaign Analysis

Cigarettes are everywhere. These tiny objects that are held between the cusps of ones fingers hold unknown danger. They hold addictive substances and can lead to both immediate and long-term damage. Cigarettes used to be romanticized and glamourized by the media, but modern day campaigns have begun to reveal the truth about their dangerous effects. Through graphic imagery and audio choices, The Real Cost Campaign reaches out to young adults in order to demonstrate these consequences and render an emotional response of fear as well vanity by revealing an ugly side effect of smoking; distortion of skin.

According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), 36.5 million Americans currently smoke, that is about fifteen percent of the population which is equal to the combined population of America’s twenty-five largest cities. Although anti-smoking advertisements are shown throughout the United States, people do not take them seriously half the time. The advertisement in this analysis showcases a grayish background, with the colors focusing mainly on a cigarette box that has the cigarettes put into crayon labels and the box also opens like a crayon box. There is also a child’s writing with crayons saying, “Just like mommy.” From this, the image showcases the dangers of smoking and the causes it has on loved ones. This advertisement uses strong ethos, pathos, and logos to get ASH’s point across very clear.

Approximately twenty percent of adults in the United States smoke cigarettes, it is this habit which is the number one cause of death that is easily preventable. Anti-smoking advertisements are seen throughout our society, usually showing the harmful effects of tobacco through graphic pictures or other shocking images. The advertisement I chose is a black and white image, showing a young man smoking a cigarette, with the smoke from it forming a gun pointed at his head. Off to the side appear the words, “Kill a cigarette, save a life. Yours.” The advertisement makes use of the three rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos through its image and implied meanings. Through this, the image is able to convey a strong sense of danger and bring awareness to the deadliness of smoking.

Did you know that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that about 15% of adults in the U.S. use some variation of tobacco? Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths every year, which is approximately 1 of every 5 deaths.1 Award-winning youth tobacco prevention campaign launched by the Food and Drug Administration, The Real Cost, in their television advertisement, “Little Lungs in a Great Big World: Birthday”, describes the effect of tobacco on one's lungs through the use of satire, animation, and facts. The Real Cost’s purpose is to prevent youth from trying tobacco and to reduce tobacco use among youth already experimenting with tobacco. They use a satirical tone in order to start a conversation among youth about tobacco use and to capture their audience's attention to educate American youth on the health consequences of using tobacco.

Smoking continues to be an increasing problem in both the United States and around the world. Advertisements of many types continue to aid in lowering the use of cigarettes by teenagers. In this advertisement, published by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), many rhetorical devices are used to help appeal to the audience’s senses, understanding, and perception on smoking cigarettes. Using a young woman in the advertisement shifts the focus towards teenagers that smoke cigarettes, have thought about smoking, or have been around others that do smoke. With the incorporation of the FDA’s “The Real Cost” campaign logo, facts about the outcome of smoking, and the photograph of the young girl's face, this advertisement serves the purpose of grabbing the attention of teenagers that use cigarettes and warns them of the negative outcomes of smoking by using certain appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos.

The woman clerk tells her that she needs to give more. The advertisement shows the consequences of smoking because the young woman must give part of her skin in order to pay for the rest of the cigarettes. This advertisement was produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention whom is known for promoting anti-smoking. In this advertisement the CDC shows smokers the consequences of smoking through the visual effects. This is very effective because the advertisements show the three rhetorical appeals.

This is an anti-smoking advertisement geared towards parents of young children. The advertisement is overall plain and simple; it gets straight to the point when you look at it and utilizes a dark theme. This anti-smoking advertisement is trying to evoke a sense of “parental guilt” into parents who smoke. The way the advertisement is able to do this is through the use of an optical illusion, use of text and the use of negative space.

Smoking is something that can really affect you internally and externally. Many people know this for a fact yet they can’t seem to quit smoking. This is because of the nicotine in the cigarette itself. Nicotine is absorbed into your bloodstream as you smoke, then it travels to your brain. It causes your brain to release adrenaline, which is a chemical in your brain that gives you pleasure. The Real Cost’s anti-smoking PSA “Straw City” is effective because it creates a clear cause and effect, a moral that is easily understood, and a good visual that teens, who are the audience, are familiar with.

In fact, the tobacco industry has suffered ever since antismoking advertising has begun (Johnston, p. 107). According to statistics, 4 in every 10 Americans who are in 12th grade have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 10 consider themselves current smokers. As well as, 1 in 5, 8th graders have tried cigarettes, and 1 in 16 consider themselves current smokers (Johnston, p. 107). Now that society is aware of the harms of tobacco, it is important to decrease such rates of smoking amongst youth. Not only are there commercials about the risks of cigarette smoking, but also there are commercials that promote living above the influence of all drugs, including alcohol and marijuana. Lastly, as research continues to improve, and new drugs arise it is important to keep youth educated on the risks of using such drugs. It is important to keep our youth safe from the dangers of

While researching information for the group assignment our group found that over the year’s cigarette ads have changed tremendously. Diego decided to study ads created in the 1960’s where ads were targeted at every marketing group possible. The ads were promoted as something everyone was doing. Even the Flintstone cartoon characters were used in cigarette commercials. Companies promoted cigarettes as a product that not only has a great tobacco taste, but is also quiet refreshing and soothing. Most ads during this time period involved couples where the leading man attracted the women with his cool refreshment of the cigarette. Other ads tried to persuade smokers to get rid of the old items that are not working out so great such as their choice of cigarettes, and switch over to their “Kool” cigarettes. Every company tried convince consumers that their cigarettes were better than the

Online campaigns such as theTruth.com have developed modern and creative ways to bring awareness to the hazards of smoking among the teen population. Their funny yet informative commercials are aired on popular national networks such as MTV, BET, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim program ("truth - #FinishIT," 2016). The campaign targets their audience on social media outlets as well including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The campaign works to heighten awareness that all tobacco ingestion is harmful to health including flavored cigarettes and hookah smoke. TheTruth.com reports a reduction in rates of teen smokers and attribute their success to strategic marketing to the demographic in their “own element” (media) ("truth - #FinishIT," 2016). Peer and parental influence effect young adult’s decisions on either cessation or continued smoking (Chassin, Presson, & Sherman, 1984, p. 380). Young adults that have fewer friends who smoke lean toward cessation versus teens that have both parents and friends who smoke

The situation of this commercial is critical to its viability on its watchers. Having been put on the web, this article can possibly connect with a substantially more extensive scope of watchers. Individuals of all races, ages, financial statuses, and convictions are on the web every day. My idea on this picture, is that it was planned for a crowd of people outside of the United States since it appeared on a site that had ads from around the globe. In the United States, kids encounter programs, through school, keeping in mind the end goal to instruct understudies on the unsafe impacts of cigarettes. Since we have these projects here in the United States and numerous different commercials, this particular notice is planned for a group of

Plastered all over magazines, buildings, and billboards used to be positive advertising of tobacco, encouraging people nationwide that tobacco use is fun, trendy, and completely innocuous. “More Doctors Smoke CAMELS than any other cigarette”, “More delicate in flavor, too...for those with keen, young tastes”, and “My throat is safe with Craven ‘A’... you can trust their smoothness and quality” were both notable examples of advertising that hooked the now addicted users (Lindstrom). Nowadays, although advertising has become more educational on the negative health effects of tobacco use, it is still normal to see people as young as 18 using the toxic products. However, how can it necessarily be considered ‘wrong’ if the legal age for tobacco

The authors point out how anti-smoking advertisements do not send a clear message to the students to understand how smoking can impact their health. It seems that the advertisements trick people by sending the wrong message, such as demonstrating that smoking is not as bad as it seems that the more the students see those advertisements, the more propense for the students to smoke. The source is relevant to my hypothesis because it demonstrates that teenagers are unaware of the health consequences that they can get. The author’s goal is for teenagers to understand anti-smoking messages are not explicit and are not demonstrating a clear understanding of the risks that smoking cause. The authors conclude that new advertisements need to be more carefully evaluated for teenagers to recognize that their intentions reflect undesirable outcome in the antismoking advertainments for teenagers to understand smoking and the inevitable result that can be provoked due to smoking.

Supporters of the ban on tobacco in India realize the major health complications that will arise from the use of tobacco. The World Health Organization estimated “over 3 million people died from tobacco related deaths in 1990,” (Ban on Tobacco Ads by the Government in India; http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/ban-tobacco-ads11.htm ). It is the government’s duty to protect the health and welfare of its citizens by banning advertising harmful products that are designed to appeal to the masses. Children have been primed at a young age to identify cartoonish tobacco related characters, such as the Joe Cool camel (Ban on Tobacco Ads by the Government in India; http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/ban-tobacco-ads11.htm). By banning tobacco in India, the economy will not be affected negatively, as consumers would purchase other items or products, and may produce additional jobs for the country (Ban on Tobacco Ads by the Government in India; http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/ban-tobacco-ads11.htm ). Advertising directly impacts the number of smokers. According to the Depart of Health (DOH), “Norway, Finland, Canada and New Zealand reported a drop in smokers due to the ban on advertising cigarettes,” (Ban on Tobacco Ads by the Government in India; Department of Health, Effect of tobacco advertising on tobacco consumption, London, 1992; http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/ban-tobacco-ads11.htm ). According