EOC Week 3: Tobacco Advertising

 

1.     Determine the scenario: What happens in this frame?

A.  This ad shows a well-known Hollywood actress named Betty Grable in their Chesterfield ad, which happened to be a pro smoking ad for the Chesterfield cigarette brand. In this ad they use Betty as the endorser for the product.  Chesterfield knows that if they put a popular face into their ads it will cause attention and awareness to the brand and will result in sales.

2. What is the setting? What are the conditions?

A.  Chesterfield used Betty Grable as their endorser to their product in this ad.  A brush on the right hand side and an officer’s hat surrounds Betty.  I believe they are trying to say that even officers smoke so smoking couldn’t be all that harmful to the body.  America at this time was embarking the peak of smoking so therefore every single smoking campaign told a story.  The story or message behind every cigarette ad at the time let you know that smoking was ok and actually made you look and feel glamorous.

3. Who are the people or groups?

A.  The company sponsoring this ad is a tobacco company called Chesterfield. In this advertisement they use a well known actress as the endorser (Betty Grable)

4. What is their point of view around this specific experience?

A.  Chesterfield is trying to sell you Betty’s lifestyle.  For the housewife viewing this ad it would motivate her to pick up smoking simply because her favorite actress is doing it.  Gentlemen viewing this ad would feel a bit more power and build confidence, assuming if they start smoking these cigarettes they can instantly pick up a gal like Betty.

5. What are their goals?

A.  Every tobacco company to this day strives to recruit and promote cigarette smoking.  Companies like Chesterfield spend everyday working on new campaigns that can potentially motivate people to pick up on these killer habits.

6. What are their assumptions? What are their perceptions?

A.  Chesterfield assumes that the consumer will start smoking when viewing this ad simply because they like the person in the picture that’s promoting smoking tobacco.   Just like the old saying goes “monkey see, monkey do” people are easily influenced therefore companies such as these assume an American will follow their icons foot steps and do exactly what they do.  

7. Are there conflicts? Is there cooperation?

A.  At the time these ads were released people weren’t so against smoking. One major reason being was people being clueless of what smoking could do to your health.  Therefore this ad did not cause conflict nor a stir to the viewers it was more of a pleasing reaction, surprisingly. During this era people weren’t being told of the consequences cigarettes smoking can cause therefore there was no reason to fight against it.

8. What are the outcomes?

A.  Now in this day in age good luck running a tobacco company that’s all I have to say.  Back then I would assume the outcome to these tobacco ads caused no harm instead all it did was boost their sales and recruit more non-smoking consumers.