Smoking: Smoking and Smoking Cessation Ad Essay

Submitted By Brett-Dykzeul
Words: 856
Pages: 4

Smoking Child: A Rhetorical Analyses
Typically when an anti-smoking advertisement is played on the radio or a television station, most people continue watching without comprehending the message. The data becomes overlooked, and isn’t relevant. But for those who smoke, it provokes an immediate thought. These commercials tend to grab the smoking viewer for a fraction of a minute, reminding them the immediate and long term dangers. These commercials tend to set a weighted item on their conscious. The logical choice is to quit, however sometimes it isn’t that easy. Sometimes one must bring your current emotional state into account and twist your moral code until it explodes. The way this is done in the smoking cessation ad created by Thai Health is not only emotionally disturbing, but has a way of wrenching your thoughts. If smoking is so bad, why do people continue to smoke?

The ad or public service announcement, blatantly utilizes children throughout and not only covers the dangers of smoking, but also lays a boundary for smokers and the moral code most of us are preset with. The ad displays adults, young adults and teens smoking in an everyday environment, with not a care in the world. Thought provoking piano strokes play throughout the entire advertisement, giving the viewer am emotional ride instantaneously. Within a few moments of the ad beginning children begin to approach these smokers with an unlit cigarette. The children ask each smoker while being taped from afar for a light. The adults become baffled and stammer, stating that they will not provide a light to the child. The adults continue to provide reasons why they shouldn’t smoke, and possible long term consequences we all know so well. The entire ad really is a great example of ethos, and causes the viewer of the advertisement to really question how young children start to smoke, and provide a question of credibility.

When the children begin to approach the adults or teenagers, pathos sets in. The thoughts caused by the remainder of the ad really get to most people. Morally correct beings begin to get angry, hoping that someone doesn’t provide the child a lighter. No one wants to see a child smoke. In a way, it’s no different than seeing a child violently killed on a movie or television. We, as adults do not want to support anything that could negatively harm a child. A majority of the adults asked by the children found themselves in some sort of disbelief, questioning if the child was serious.

Shortly after the children ask for a light, the adults begin to list off the negative effects of smoking, and the terrible ingredients typically found within a cigarette. By the smoker stating what is bad within a cigarette, this provides realistic evidence that although we all know it’s bad, we continue to do it. Not a single person wants to inhale insecticide directly, but yet we are ok with the ingredients found within a cigarette. Within a matter of seconds, the adults are reminded that they are concerned for the children, but perhaps forgot about themselves. Logos is displayed when the adults begin to stop and think. The dialogue displays stating that the majority of the adults put