Paper Sample on Tobacco Industry Recruits Smokers with Image-Based Marketing

Introduction

Since its inception, the tobacco industry has recruited smokers by using the image associated with the consumption of its products. The tobacco in the various brands of cigarettes available on the market is very similar. Despite everything, each brand manages to attract its share of consumers because each company associates certain characteristics with each of its products (color of the packaging, the format of the package, logo, advertisements, etc.) that allow it to attract very specific customers. The current paper will locate one advertisement for cigarettes and one advertisement for smokeless tobacco and analyze the methods of persuasion and the target audience for the various advertisements.

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Kamel Cigarettes

The target audience is young cigarette smokers. The audiences that the cigarette companies target with their products are not chosen at random. Publications show that they have funded a great deal of research to identify the clienteles more likely to become dependent on tobacco: mostly women, and young people. By focusing on the needs and interests of these customers, the tobacco industry adapts its offer based on them and makes sure to make even more profits (Haardörfer et al., 2017). As can be observed, the advert has striking color and design facilitating communication between the product and the consumer. The advertisements stage a very sophisticated imagination targeting specific social groups. The goal is to get the consumer to identify with a brand of cigarettes by making the act of smoking attractive, which contributes to building or strengthening identity.

The product promotes a feminine image and the packaging reflects glamor, elegance, rebellion, and status. Currently, one of the most important audiences for brands in the sector is women. That is why many of these packagings are based on clearly feminine designs like those in the image (Richardson, Ganz, & Vallone, 2015). In the eyes of the tobacco industry, women constitute a safer clientele than men because they develop an addiction to nicotine faster than these, women respond less well than men to treatments that aim to quit smoking, and they live longer than their male counterparts. Thus, they are likely to smoke over a longer period. The ethnic group being targeted is white people and the product tries to associate itself with youthful people (both male and female) although the cigarette and its packaging is slender and evokes femininity, thinness, and luxury. People are part of the advertisement and the age group portrayed is that of young people.

Smokeless Tobacco

The target audience is for cigarette smokers who may be having a problem quitting tobacco smoking and those new into ‘safe’ smoking. The target is adolescents and the youth because compared to adults, youth are the consumers of choice for cigarette companies. Adolescents are more sensitive to the effects of nicotine and become addicted more quickly. Moreover, the younger they start smoking, the more likely they are to become regular and loyal consumers. As adolescence is a time of self-building, young people tend to imitate the people they admire, and because of their young age, teens tend to underestimate the health harms of smoking.

The product promotes both a male and feminine image and the pictures of the men and women used are people who have a stature that is the envy of everyone. As such, the product evokes virility and self-confidence. The product also evokes youth, passion, and adventure. The brand also portrays freedom, independence, future, materialism, success, and masculinity. The ethnic group being targeted is white people, and it tries to associate itself with youthful people (both male and female). Besides the advertisement being eye-catching, the tobacco company has colorfully designed its advert, and every detail, color, format, texture, and typography used to encourage a smoker to buy that brand. People are part of the advertisement and the age group portrayed is that of young men and women.

Conclusion

The main difference between advertisements for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is the message. For cigarette advertisements, there are fewer words and the focus is on the image. Moreover, there is a warning saying cigarette smoking leads to lung cancer, heart diseases, complications during pregnancies among other problems. Advertisements for smokeless cigarettes contain many words and many visuals, the focus is on the message rather than on the image and although there is a warning message just like in cigarettes, the side effects that are listed are fewer.

References

Ad Forum (2020). Accessed from https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/6699087/na/skoal

Haardörfer, R., Cahn, Z., Lewis, M., Kothari, S., Sarmah, R., Getachew, B., & Berg, C. J. (2017).
The advertising strategies of early e-cigarette brand leaders in the United States. Tobacco regulatory science, 3(2), 222-231. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/trsg/trs/2017/00000003/00000002/art00010

Kamel Modern (2020). Accessed from http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/images.php?token2=fm_st200.php&token1=fm_img5930.php&theme_file=fm_mt026.php&theme_name=Modern%20Strategies&subtheme_name=Kamel%20Modern

Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Vallone, D. (2015). Tobacco on the web: surveillance and characterization of online tobacco and e-cigarette advertising. Tobacco Control, 24(4), 341-347. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/4/341.short