The Anti-Smoking Advertisement

Families and the Importance of Children

Families are typically the most important element in people’s lives. People strive to make sure that the wellbeing of the children comes before their happiness because they are such an important part of the family.

The Dangers of Smoking and Second-Hand Smoke

One of the main issues that people around the globe have is smoking, as seen in the ad above. Smoking is dangerous and has been linked to a number of issues, despite the fact that it is not prohibited in almost all nations. The purpose of this advertisement is to raise general awareness of the risks associated with smoking, particularly among parents who smoke in front of their kids. According to this ad, at least 17,000 children in the UK are hospitalized each year as a result of second-hand smoking at home. The ad was found in Roy Castle website, a foundation that deals with promoting awareness of lung cancer in the United Kingdom. The intended audience of this advertisement are parents who smoke. This essay will analyze three different features of this ad and the effectiveness of each aspect.

The Image of a Child Holding a Cigarette

The first aspect that can be observed from the ad is the image of a child holding a cigarette. The first look of the image is a child who appears to be smoking, however, on a closer look, the hand that is holding the cigarette seems to be that of a grown person. The viewer of this ad becomes conflicted with the image of a child smoking until they see the hand holding the cigarette. The ad here uses the logos appeal to enforce its message. At first, the viewer will start to wonder why a child is smoking which will make the audience reason on the dangers that the child may be exposing himself to by smoking. However, the presence of a grown-up hand will cause the viewer wonder why a person can allow a child to smoke hence the logos appeal works effectively in this ad. The image of a child holding a cigarette is an attention grabber hence there is a high chance that the viewer will look at the ad again. The use of the child with a cigarette makes the audience notice that through their smoking, their children become smokers too thou not directly.

The Setting of the Ad

Additionally, the location of the ad is the second aspect to be observed in this advertisement. The setting of the ad is in the kitchen dining table. A viewer notices that the ad is set in the dining table because of the utensils that can be seen on the child in the ad. The aim of the setting is to make the viewer realize that second-hand smoking in children usually happens when they are at home. The Ethos appeal is in play within this setting because the audience of this ad is the parent and parents normally feel associated with the home environment. The dining table is a strong symbol of a family because at the dining table all the family members meet to enjoy the meal. Therefore, the use of this setting is a clever way to get the attention of the audience to the act the second-hand smoking in children occurs in the presence of the parents at home with the grown-ups being the main contributors. The audience, therefore, realizes that smoking in the presence of their children makes the children be smokers.

The Inscribed Text

The text inscribed is the final aspect that can be observed in the ad and it explains everything about the ad. The ad use of image and setting does an excellent job in portraying the message of the ad. However, the addition of the text box in the ad explains and creates an understanding about what the final message the ad want to achieve. The text gives factual details about second-hand smoking and how it affects the children in the home setting. Pathos appeal is conveyed through this inscribed text in the ad. By informing parents about the danger, they expose their children to by smoking in their presence appeals to the emotional part of the audience. Consequently, on the bottom left corner of the ad the text “The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation” is written to show that the information in the ad comes from a trusted and recognized source.

The Overall Effectiveness of the Advertisement

In general, the advertisement is a masterpiece that can conveniently convey is the message. First, the use of factual details about the cases arising from second-hand smoking makes the ad to be understandable and more efficient. Secondly, the image of the ad appears to be a child smoking which is usually illegal in every country in the world. Therefore, using the model makes the ad to convey a powerful message that smoking in the presence of a child should be made illegal to safeguard the children from the dangers of smoking. However, some additional aspects can be added to the ad to make it even more powerful. For instance, instead of showing the kid just sitting at the dinner table alone, the ad could incorporate other family members in the table with one of them smoking. The addition would explain to the audience some of the situations where people smoke in the presence of children making them be second-hand smokers. The addition of this change to the ad will make it convey a more complex and stronger message to the audience.