Stealth Cigarette Commercial: Difference between revisions

Sit down and watch one of these commercials. Now, think back about what you've learned. The classic adage of advertising is, [[No Such Thing as Bad Publicity|"There is no such thing as bad press,"]] so talking about smoking on television -- eventelevision—even in a pejorative context -- [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|helps their cause]]. It's about as close to a [[Xanatos Gambit]] as anyone has ever come in modern advertising: Whether the viewer smokes after watching it, they still watched it and they're still talking about it.

Beyond that, the anti-smoking PSAs produced by tobacco companies are always a little backhanded. The textual message -- donmessage—don't smoke -- issmoke—is coupled with a very different subtext. Studies have actually backed this up, linking exposure to "anti"-smoking PSAs to higher cigarette use. Now there's a series of anti-smoking commercials that no longer talk about the health risks and entirely talk about how evil the tobacco companies are. However, no one ever really thought tobacco companies were that much of a moral standard-bearer beforehand, so the most common reaction to these new revelations concerning their schemes is to marvel at the sheer [[Magnificent Bastard]] genius of them.

=== Real Examples: ===

* One of the earliest and more memorable anti-smoking PSAs was the "Death of the Marlboro Man" commercial. Aired starting in 1994 and continuing for several years, Charles McLaren, the brother of the late Wayne McLaren (one of many Marlboro men employed during the cigarette brand's "Marlboro Country" ad campaign), implored children not to smoke. The commercial graphically showed the effects of a lifetime of heavy smoking: a picture of the young, vibrant and handsome Wayne McLaren in one of the early Marlboro ads, dressed in a Stetson as if a rugged cowboy, followed by another picture of McLaren lying in a hospital bed, withered due to the effects of lung cancer. The earlier picture of McLaren was taken in the late 1970s, while the latter photo -- tubesphoto—tubes and other machines hooked to his frail body -- wasbody—was taken shortly before his 1993 death. The message to children was obvious ("Please don't smoke") but it was also a stern message against tobacco companies that used advertising campaigns -- suchcampaigns—such as the "Marlboro Country" series -- toseries—to entice children and teenagers to take up the habit.

* Outside TV, note the "If you're thinking about quitting smoking..." brochures sometimes attached to cigarette packages. Inside is information on the health benefits of quitting -- informationquitting—information that might reinforce your decision to quit. Of course, as long as the pack is already open...

* There was an ad that ran in theatres last year that was anti-weed. It featured two badly drawn stick figures--afigures—a man and a dog--talkingdog—talking about weed. The message was basically, "Don't do pot or your dog will be disappointed in you".

=== Fictional Examples: ===