This advertisement is for Camel Cigarettes. This advertisement was feature in Vogue Magazine. It features a sepia colored photograph of a Caucasian woman in her mid-twenties. This woman is beautiful and appears to have flawless skin. This woman is holding a lit cigarette in her left hand and blowing out cigarette smoke from her mouth. The woman appears to be having a moment of serenity to herself. This image suggests that smoking Camel Cigarettes will make you beautiful and have flawless skin. This image makes smoking cigarettes seem like it’s no big deal.
In the middle of the advertisement, under an orange picture of a camel, in black lettering, are the words, “Inspiration IS WHERE A MOMENT BECOMES A MEMORY.” And at the bottom next to another orange picture of a camel, in white lettering are these words: “TASTE IT ALL.” To the left of these words is a black outlined, white box of information stating in black lettering, “SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.”
In order to attract consumers, Camel Cigarettes uses many types of persuasion techniques. One technique is Simple Solution. Everyday people all around the world are faced with difficulties. People hate their jobs, have too much stress from school, and are not sure what to do with their lives. Camel Cigarettes implies that their product can fix those problems, just as it is doing for the beautiful woman in the advertisement. Smoking Camel Cigarettes will not fix any problems that the consumer has. When the ad is uses the saying, “Inspiration is where a moment becomes a memory,” it’s stating that people should embrace what’s now and live in the present, and Camel Cigarettes will help them do so. This product is not meant to help the consumers with problems and it will not help them to live in the moment. This is also the Diversion. The picture of the beautiful young women diverts consumers from the actual affect of the product. People think, “Well the product doesn’t seem to be harming her, so it won’t harm me.” This technique is being used to hide the actual affect of the product which is surprisingly stated in the bottom left corner of the advertisement. Although it is stated at the bottom, we can assume that most people ignore the warnings because this company and many others are still in business and obviously have enough money to be paying beautiful women to appear in their many advertisements. Another technique being used is Analogy. This advertisement us two analogies but one the one that is most apparent is their motto, which is “Taste It All”. What does the consumer taste? Do they taste the harmful chemicals or the nasty smell that comes from cigarettes?
All of the techniques that Camel Cigarettes use to promote their product are used in many other advertisements by different companies. But these techniques make this ad bad because of the harmful things it is trying to sell. Cigarettes do not, under any circumstances, make you beautiful. They might bring you a moment of serenity, but that moment will not last. And after that moment happens, you are left with chemicals in your body that could kill you. Their motto also is very disturbing and somewhat confusing. “Taste It All” is not something I would think of when seeing people by Camel Cigarettes. It sounds like this company wants their consumers to taste all the bad things that cigarettes can do to them. They can make your body produce lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and will most definitely complicate pregnancy.
This ad fails to say, their product will not only cause their body problems, but also causes their family problems. People who smoke can cause their family to have second hand smoke, which can kill them just as easily as it can for someone who smokes. This ad also doesn’t say that smoking is highly addictive and also leaves everything in their life smelling of chemicals and dirty cigarettes. Camel Cigarettes should not compare their product to inspiration and memories because cigarettes will not make you inspired or make any moment a memory.
This advertisement can and does offend different types of people. It is stereotyping young Caucasian females, people who don’t smoke, and people who do smoke. To people who do not smoke, they could be offended by the fact that this ad is promoting smoking, because it is common sense to know that using this product can kill you and others around you. The non-smokers do not want these advertisements to pressure the people they love into hurting their body with these horrible chemicals that the cigarettes have. This can offend women in their mid-twenties, not just Caucasian women but every women of any race because it is most certain that not all women, especially Caucasian women, in their mid-twenties smoke cigarettes. And this can also offend people who do smoke cigarettes. Although everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, the people who do smoke and have smoked for a long time are addicted. They “have” to smoke. They could be offended because after smoking for a long time, nothing comes good out of a cigarette. The high is gone, and there is no inspiration and their moments never become a memory. Ads like this one are promoting something that can harm our loved ones and the people around us—society needs to change this.