This
week, I wanted to find public service advertisements rather than commercials that
focus on some products. When I found this video, I thought it is also one of
the stereotypes of non-smoking advertisements that usually shows scenes of
smokers and victims dying because of cigarettes. However, against my
expectation, the video was shocking. Though there are not many contents,
characters or scenes, a man who is continuously beat until his death effectively
shows how cigarettes kill people step by step. It is not comfortable to see the
video’s scenes because of its cruel sights but by showing drastic scenes, the
video’s messages that point out the dangerousness of smoking become more
powerful. In addition, at the end of the commercial, a narrator says “Smoke
anybody takes a beating …. Fight back ,Quit now” by saying this, it clearly
arranges what the video wants to say. (I think the strategy that has
confrontation between a man and smoking is powerful method to impress audiences)
In
this advertisement, without many words or comments, it shows the harmfulness of
smoking and delivers the stop smoking message successfully. Therefore, I think,
sometimes, some actions or scenes are more powerful than some rhetoric words or
saying. By showing some shocking images or attractive scenes, it could deliver
and embed its hidden message to people who are exposed to those images. For
example, on the contrary, in the past, cigarette companies advertised their products
by connecting cigarettes with some images such as masculinity, sexy, etc and
appealed customers that if they consume cigarettes and become smokers then they
could attain charms came from cigarettes’ images. Those companies imprinted ‘cool’
and ‘sexy’ images with cigarettes on customers unconsciously. (Today, it is
illegal to relate those cool images with cigarettes)
We
are living in a society where it is filled with intended images, scenes etc.
Therefore, we need to think, ‘Aren’t we dominated by those hidden images unconsciously?’
, ‘Do we accept some intended images with no doubt?’
The smoking commercail was very shocking and very effective. It is the perfect ad for a cigerette commercial.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was watching that ad, I literally jumped back in my chair when the first "punch" was thrown. That was a pretty interesting commercial and it worked. I never saw smoking as a cool thing to do but now I think I will forever look at smokers as being beat up by cigarettes. I think it achieved its goal. You bring up a good point with the hidden images. There are countless times when I suddenly crave a food for no reason and then I realize I had seen an ad for it on my way home.
ReplyDelete