Cigarette ... Ads are Cool!

Hello, it’s me I was wondering if after all these days you’d want a blog post.

 I hope my cheeky pop culture reference was realized however should it have gone over the heads of those oblivious to recent developments in the music industry, the aforementioned phrase was slight parody of Adele’s new song, “Hello.”

With that being said its time for the best part of these posts and that is the new WOW WORD! A word that I happened to recently stumble upon, this Latin derived word is used to refer to the fact that something has been done or repeated so often that it has become annoying or tiresome. The word itself being ‘Ad nauseam.’ A great use of this word would be “Josh hoped his WOW word bit present at the onset of every blog post wouldn’t be considered writing ad nauseam.”

Continuing on from the topic of last week’s post, as the unit we are studying is still Advertinfotainment, today’s post is in regards to an Ad presented to us in class. An ad from what seems to be the late 20^th Century, the ad itself aims to promote and sell Marlboro Cigarettes. Now being the avid smoker I am this ad really resonated with me (just joking) as the appeals and techniques used are very effective in drawing the viewer in and accordingly persuade them to buy Marlboro cigarettes. The larger font with different styles of accenting used for different words, the viewer is subconsciously trapped in this myriad of both textual and visual elements. The tone itself is quite harmonious with the prominent visual images being one if a tranquil and almost panoramic view of the Archway of Santa Catarina with seemingly pretty man and woman conversing in the foreground. The second prominent image is of a neatly arranged pack of beauty tip cigarettes. These images providing an pleasing aesthetical sensation are additionally supplemented with the limited yet creatively presented textual elements which work in great harmony with one another. In terms of the ads use of ethos, pathos and logos, the use of ethos and logos can be discerned as the ad seeks to build credibility through its taglines and slogans “Finer taste, superior mildness … a luxury,” while also supporting its claim of being different by promoting their unique beauty tip and ivory tip cigarettes. An element of logos, this is a logical build on their argument as the company Marlboro was indeed the curator of the beauty tip cigarette which for those lacking context was a cigarette made for women as the tip served as a filter allowing for the desired sensation without the hassle of fag ash impeding on their delectable good looks. The ads primary audience is women as well as men and mainly habitual smokers as it seeks to sell a new experience that is unique to Marlboro, “When smoking has stopped being a pleasure and becomes only a habit,” this in a market as saturated as cigarettes is quite a hefty claim. Additionally the appeal to woman is found in the promotion of beauty tip cigarettes which are adverting both textually and visually as the woman in the image is shown with a man as result of this common preference they both share. This reflects well upon the times standards of society as it can be ascertained that smoking was considered not only a pleasure but the basis of social groups and a means for meeting new people and in this case a significant other.