Anti-Smoking Campaign Advert Analysis

Introduction

An advertisement places emphasis on a simple message exemplified to fit an entire canvass, video or sound bite. Modern advertising is about getting the message heard or seen using the best combinations of graphics, humor and any aspect that can spark interest. Although a large percentage of advertisements seek to promote a product or service, there are adverts that purpose to encourage healthy living among persons. These adverts are referred to as public health warnings or public health ads (Ozcelik and Kaan 8). This essay delves into the makings of a public health advertisement. It analyses the design and description of a specific anti-smoking campaign ad, analyzing aspects of the ad such as the effectiveness of the message and the ability to reach multitudes using the message depicted. Above all, there is an emphasis on the appropriateness of the advertisement and the likely impact it will have.

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Description

The advertisement presented is a poster. It details the image of an individual holding a cigarette. Similarly, there is a graphic of cigarette smoke forming into a gun that points at the individual. At the bottom of the advertisement is a message inscribed; 'Kill a cigarette and save a life. Yours.' The advertisement is from an organization called webneel, as also indicated by the imprinted company website; webneel.com. The individual smoking the cigarette seems to be expressionless and is rather healthy if you look at the face. The cigarette being smoked is partly depleted, and a good portion of it is unsmoked. There is thus the minor aspect of posture that might seem albeit off to a keen onlooker. Regardless, the message is clear, as is the graphic of the gun pointing at the smoking individual. From the manner the gun graphic is developed from smoke, it captures the idiomatic expression 'smoking gun' which is consistent with a dangerous affair such as smoking.

A lot of details can emerge from the advertisement. For purposes of this essay, the advert can be described from both a positive and negative point of view. The positive point of view is that it captures the mood intended. The glim colors and the expressionless face foretell a danger that is lurking. The whole idea of designing a gun from smoke is also quite impressive. The cigarette being smoked is also real, although no brand name is indicated. Indeed, there was some effort in researching on the advert. Good advertisements that capture health messages and warnings need to be very realistic as matters of warning need to invoke a sense of fear in the person viewing the advert (Pechmann and Ellen 908). The advert captures the key aspects and essence of the mood without putting too many details. The monochrome color coding scheme used for instance ensures attention is drawn to the gun.

A description from a negative or pessimistic point of view is also possible. A lot of criticism often goes into advertisements that seek to encourage healthy living. Most people do not relate with the message on these advertisements, and hence, the context can at times be a concern while developing these ads (Maynard et al. 466). The person in the picture does not seem to be a smoker. It may be an opinion formed by this essay, but indeed, many successful health campaign ads often pick persons who seem to have some health problem of sorts to present a graphic image to the audience. It is common also to have the cigarette smoking bit done practically, showing the person smoking. This advert seems to escape the key details that an actual cigarette smoker would easily capture. Criticism or not, the advert is well designed and can reach multitudes with the intended message.

Analysis

An anti-smoking advertisement needs to target a social aspect that encourages smokers to go about the habit. Since there have already been adverts (though significantly reduced), then the public image of the smoker needs to change and the most commonly discussed cigarette advert is the Marlboro man that is criticized for encouraging many people to smoke in the late 19th century (Yom-Tov et al. 24). The Marlboro man graphic was designed to make cigarette smoking cool, hip and fashionable. To get rid of the Marlboro image from the public domain, the resulting anti-smoking campaign needs to be more graphic, if not informative on the health concerns associated with cigarette smoking. The smoker thus needs to appear like an unhealthy person who has significant health problems. The public message on health often requires to bring out an aspect of fear in people for the message to be better proliferated (Duke et al. 32). The audience targeted by the advert is quite specific, and more research should be done on how to reach the targeted audience.

The advert presented in the webneel advert is effective in the messaging. The caption, however, needs to be enlarged further for better visibility. The real message is in the caption as the rest of the image can easily be mistaken for a James Bond captioned movie cover. Similarly, many people capture the positive aspects of a graphic after they have eliminated possible mistakes. Although the message may seem obvious, it takes a lot of effort to convince the public on any issue, especially using advertisements (Ozcelik and Kaan 5). The anti-smoking advert has its strengths nonetheless. The good graphics work done in 3-dimensional imagery is not only attractive to the eye but appealing for any person not to overlook it. Having an attractive image is a good approach for an advert. The image should, however, capture the context and not just the content of the message (Duke 29). Putting more effort on the context, message and facial expression in the advert can make it better.

Conclusion

Cigarette smoking is harmful and anti-social. Unfortunately, it is among the most common anti-social behaviors in the world (Pechmann and Ellen 910). The campaign to discourage cigarette smoking is very creative with the use of the gun and the smoke. The message should however not create a lot of humor, but fear and regret. The person used in the advert needs to apply a facial expression that aligns well with the message discussed. The facial expression needs to capture the essence of the message. Cigarette smoking is addictive. Adverts on cigarette smoking should present a form of therapeutically designed messages to get smokers to seek treatment and rehabilitation (Maynard et al. 468). A lot can be done to discourage smoking. Adverts need to say more, not just using simple captions. Unlike sales pitches where adverts seek to use the least amount of time to pass a message, public health campaigns need to be informative and albeit 'boring' as the idea is to ensure that the public feels a sense of disgust and discomfort, watching the advert.

Works Cited

Duke, Jennifer C., et al. "Exposure to electronic cigarette television advertisements among youth and young adults." Pediatrics 134.1 (2014): 29-36, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/134/1/e29.full.pdf. Accessed 14 March 2019.

Maynard, Olivia M., et al. "Severity and susceptibility: measuring the perceived effectiveness and believability of tobacco health warnings." BMC public health 18.1 (2018): 468, https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-5385-x. Accessed 14 March 2019.

Ozcelik, Ayse Bengi, and Kaan Varnali. "Effectiveness of online behavioral targeting: A psychological perspective." Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 33 (2019): 1-11, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kaan_Varnali/publication/329351228_Effectiveness_of_Online_Behavioral_Targeting_A_Psychological_Perspective/links/5c362502a6fdccd6b59f071c/Effectiveness-of-Online-Behavioral-Targeting-A-Psychological-Perspective.pdf. Accessed 14 March 2019.

Pechmann, Cornelia, and Ellen T. Reibling. "Antismoking advertisements for youths: an independent evaluation of health, counter-industry, and industry approaches." American Journal of Public Health 96.5 (2006): 906-913 https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2004.057273. Accessed 14 March 2019.

Yom-Tov, Elad, et al. "The effectiveness of public health advertisements to promote health: a randomized-controlled trial on 794,000 participants." npj Digital Medicine 1.1 (2018): 24 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-018-0031-7. Accessed 14 March2019.