It seems to me that everyone smoked when I was a kid, movie stars, princesses, models, and even my favorite cartoon characters. Taking up smoking was a right of passage between adolescence and adulthood. The Marlboro Man was a powerful symbol of independence and free spiritedness. I looked forward to the time that I could start smoking during my childhood. Smoking was glamorous.
In my lifetime, smoking has gone from glamorous to gross. The body bag commercial by the American Legacy Foundation is just one example of a serious anti smoking campaign that raged through out my adulthood. The public education campaign was so successful, it prompted public policy that has increased the taxes on cigarettes to make them largely unaffordable for most Americans. I cannot think of a friend or colleague of mine who smokes now.
Both advocacy messages draw on the emotions of the viewers. The smoking ads sell a feeling of independence and relaxation. The anti smoking ad sells a feeling of anger and betrayal. Any time we can illicit an emotional response from the intended audience, an ad campaign is successful.
Katy,
ReplyDeleteI remember the marlboro man ad from my childhood, but I think I looked at it and other ads like it as something for adults who were already smokers. Same ad but different messages.....oh, well. lol
Thanks for sharing.
Katy,
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your post because they are always so well-thought out and put together. Thank you for adding to my learning experience by sharing information that is not directly related to the course. Your smoking example is good inspiration for advocacy issues that seem so complex we hesitate to attack them. Thank you for your thoughts!
Annie P.