Ethos in Contemporary Smoking Commercial

This creative commercial has many forms of rhetorical argument in its short time span. But where does their credibility come from? One of the first questions to ask is who is behind the making of the piece. And with a little research it is clear The Real Cost campaign was actually started by the FDA or Federal Drug Administration. This is a widely recognized federal agency in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. People tend to trust the United States government so that builds the ethos of the commercial tremendously. The campaign worked so well that it was rewarded a Gold Effie Award in 2015 in the Disease Awareness and Education category. Recognition from a widely acclaimed institution also builds ethos.  

-Mihrete Samuel

Smoking Commercial in History: Logos

Many of this commercials rhetorical arguments are made through logos. The most obvious example being the "National Survey" that is spoken about by the voice over. The commercial claims that doctors all over the nation and in all branches of medicine were asked what brand of cigarettes they prefer and an overwhelming majority claimed it to be Camels. The validity of this statement is questionable but nonetheless the logic here is if all these doctors enjoy this particular brand, then most likely you will as well. Another example of logos lies in the succeeding segment. The voice says, "Why not change to Camels for the next thirty days and see what a difference it makes in your smoking enjoyment." This suggestion is logos because it tries to bargain with the viewer and offers a choice to try it for a little just to try it out. This may seem small but they are trying to come off as having a lot of confidence in their product, this is an important trait of logos. The final description of the cigarettes as "mild" and "good tasting" shows how overcompensating for these traits in a commercial is used to the advertisers advantage.                                 

-Mihrete Samuel

The Audience: 60s Camel Smoking Commercial

In comparison to the other smoking commercial in the 1960s, Camel really maintained a primitive audience, utilizing only one type of community in their ads. In terms of the time, this commercial was pretty diverse in that it reached out to women and obviously acknowledged a woman’s right to smoke as she pleased, or possibly ignored that idea and emphasized the idea of accumulating sales. In this specific example, there were no other forms of minority representation other than women. This distinction makes an interesting point in the advancement of women’s right, but also does not seem to identify racial progression too well. Outside of this specific ad, Camel did cover their bases well with advertisements featuring women solely and African Americans in addition to white males. Directly stemming from our text, the Camel extended its reach over an audience that trusted the opinions and ideas of doctors during that time. While it may not seem very obvious, there were and are many people who do not trust doctors, therefore making such an argument that appeals to trust in doctors does exclude a specific, not necessarily large, portion of Camel’s audience.

The Audience: Camel's Commerical vs. 7000 Chemicals Commercial

The 1960's Camel cigarettes commercial targeted audience members who were hesitant about smoking. The commercial grabbed the audience's attention when it stated "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette". This statement gave viewers relief when they discovered that numerous doctors approved of Camel cigarettes. The commercial also gave smokers during this time the validation to continue to smoke.

"The Real Cost" commercial directed their focus on teen viewers. Their goal of the ad is to prevent young adults from smoking by providing the negative effects of cigarettes. The creators of the commercial employed a young actor that teens can relate to. They also utilized scary black creatures to give teens a visual representation of the multitude of toxic chemicals in cigarettes. This ad spreads awareness and helps minimize the amount of young adults that experiment with smoking.

 

-Jena Baguyos

 

Logos in The Real Cost Commercial: "#7000chemicals"

According to LiteraryDevices.net the definition of logos is, "A literary device that can be defined as a statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic." This contemporary commercial is great because it uses a window of exactly one minute to try and get across a powerful message of the harms of smoking. Although this may seem like a commercial mostly driven by emotion there are many subtle instances of logos. In the first few seconds of the video we see a teenage boy leave the house. The fact that a teenage boy was placed as the main character is an act of logos. This helps the audience deduct that young people are the main audience of this rhetorical piece. The climax of the video at about 50 seconds shows the boy finally ingesting all the monsters and creatures that were approaching and a voice says, "Every time you smoke, there's a toxic mix of over 7,000 chemicals coming for you. That's the real cost." This shows how the action was all building up to the logos which is the statistic of 7000 chemicals entering your body. This helps explain the previous events and strengthens the argument of abstaining from cigarettes.                   
 -Mihrete Samuel

1960s Camel/Smoking Pathos: The beliefs in Smoking

During the 1960s smoking was one of the more common events that could be going on at any given time. Almost everybody smoked, except kids of course unless you were feeling brave, curious, or desired to be like Daddy or Mommy. As mentioned before the definition of smoking was congruent with an idea of relaxation, socialization, and pleasure. Today, smoking is one of the most discouraged actions that any person could partake in particularly because of the information and correlation smoking has too many chronic and usually terminal illnesses such as emphysema, bronchitis, lung cancer, and more. Doctors today are adamant about eliminating smoking, which is almost a reality, but still requires a lot of work. Back in the 60s, Smoking was not seen as an issue and, in fact, was encouraged by doctors in some cases. In this particular example, Camel uses doctors to advertise not only for the usage of cigarettes but the excellence of the Camel cigarette brand. While this is a good technique and imposes a logical understanding of why someone should smoke, there does exist a logical fallacy in that presentation of pathos. Camel is advertising that people should buy Camel brand cigarettes because of its support amongst doctors, but that it also a logical bandwagon. This bandwagon is both effective and ineffective in the sense that that it reaches to the audience and discusses the reason why people should support Camel, but it also does not offer a truly legitimate reason to support Camel. In addition, there is evidence that the link between cigarettes and pulmonary diseases were evident during the sixties, but never really caught full attention until the end of the century. 

-Andrew Maduakor (and the previous article)

1960s Camel/Smoking Ethos: Why did we trust them?

           As smoking gradually came to be known as one of the great American pastimes, the progression and stability of the smoking industry and smoking companies was highly elevated. During the 60s some of the top cigarette brands, Camel, Parliament, Marlboro, and Newport, engaged in advertising to multiple discourse communities, being men, women, African Americans, and more. In addition, advertisements were directed at multiple life scenarios advancing the idea that it's alright to smoke when you're working, on vacation, relaxing, at home, having stress, and a multitude of other scenarios.

          The ethos can be observed in two different ways, understanding more about the credibility of the Camel itself and the understanding the overall ideology behind the author/videographer's choice of scenes. I want to look particularly at the company Camel and how their reputation as a well-known and well-respected cigarette brand contributed to the strength of advertisement. Once again, Camel was one of the more popular cigarette brands at the time which initially contributed to their overall ethos because of popularity solely. A more direct way of addressing ethos that was used in the text was professional support, specifically utilized medical doctors as an example of people who use Camel cigarettes and obviously like the brand. This form of indirect ethos establishes that Camel has versatility amongst the medical community and thus is respectably legitimate. These two ideas, coupled with the intention of diversifying the audience all help to certify the legitimacy of Camel and their cigarettes. 

Pathos: The Truth about Smoking

“The Real Cost” campaign was founded by the FDA in February 2014. Their mission is to prevent teens who experiment with smoking from becoming lifelong tobacco users. They spread awareness by broadcasting commercials that emphasize the harmful effects of smoking. Unlike other campaigns they are more involved in social media which promotes a direct connection with teens today.

The rhetorical appeal pathos is utilized in the “7000 Chemicals” commercial to evoke fear in teen viewers. At the beginning of the commercial a young boy approaches the dark woods at night. In this captivating scene, numerous menacing creatures awaken in the distance and lurk towards the unaware boy.  This part intrigues the observer causing them to be fearful yet curious.  The appearance of these monsters is especially dreadful because they are creepy and black. At the sight of them the audience is jolted and emotionally disturbed. The suspense builds causing intensity in the viewer’s emotions as they anticipate what’s to come. As the boy lights his cigarette, the creatures gain more speed. The background music heightens the uncertainty as they reach the boy and diffuse into the cigarette itself. The symbolism of the monsters give the viewers a visual of the destructive chemicals inhaled from cigarette smoking. This shocking fact is intended to create awe in spectators. After enduring these range of troubling emotions, teens develop reluctance towards the use of tobacco products.

 

-Jena Baguyos

 

 

 

Kairotic Moment of Smoking in the 1960s

Imagine just coming out of a boring and exhausting business meeting or class after a long day. One of the best ways that you could relax is by taking a calm, relaxing smoke break. Smoking was one of the many outlets for people during the 1960s, being one of the most forms of socialization amounts adults both young and adult. As shown in the video, doctors, one of the busiest men in the working world, even use cigarettes to relax regardless of the type of doctor. Smoking is a social pastime, something to do with your pals even anywhere and anytime. Entering into the 1960's, America had just finished in it's global engagements with World War II and entered the fearful, yet energetic Cold War which not only inspired a multitude of movements but also resulted in a desire for the American people to calm down from their everyday excitement. One other important factor that encouraged people to smoke was physician usage and recommendation. Americans supported smoking very strongly because of physicians advertising for certain brands and certifying the beneficial effects of smoking for the body and the mind. Overall, coming from an earlier time where the nation was in economic stability and warfare, the American people desired a medium for stresses release that was not only popularized throughout society but recommended and used by physicians.

Kairos in Contemporary Smoking Commercial

Kairos may very well be the most important rhetorical argument someone can make. It goes a step further than analyzing the piece, it breaks down how the moment in time affects the significance. Smoking in America is a particularly interesting topic because over the span of 60 years, there has been a large shift in how the media has portrayed this dangerous act. To be fair, scientific knowledge plays a large role in this. It wasn't until 1964 that the first study by the U.S Surgeon General came out criticizing cigarettes. This may offer insight into ads earlier in the century claiming doctors recommend smoking. They simply didn't know any better. In the year 1970, it became illegal to advertise cigarettes and this began the steady decline of the percent of the population that smoked but more importantly the image of smoking. More and more anti-cigarette commercials were being released and they were receiving much praise. The government even started a popular campaign sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy that is widely known as Above The Influence. Many schools made it a requirement in their Health education classes to teach the harms of smoking and show shocking videos of the harmful affects smoking has had on people. Most people born in the 90's can say they've witnessed an educational video that showcased people with their voice box removed, people on their deathbed, etc. due to smoking. With this in mind, the commercial "The Real Cost: '#7000chemicals'" can be seen as a very realistic ad against smoking. It uses intimidating imagery such as the nighttime setting, and an army of ghoulish looking monsters all headed towards one boy to almost say, "We want to scare the cigarette out of the teenagers hand." Its working too. Since this common form of anti-cigarette commercials became popular, smoking in teens is the lowest its been in 22 years. 

-Mihrete Samuel

Today's View on Smoking: Rhetorical Argument and Stasis Theory

America’s view on smoking has dramatically evolved from when it first became a part of American culture. In present society smoking is portrayed as appalling and irresponsible. Unlike the public in the 1950’s and 1960’s, people are now fully aware of the harmful effects of long term smoking. In America, 66% of people smoked in the 1960’s and only 8% Americans smoke today.

There are alternatives now available to people who want to quit smoking in order to better their health. These substitutes include electronic cigarettes, vaporizing pens, nicotine patches and nicotine gum. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2014 approximately 9 million adults use a electronic cigarette or a vapor product on daily basis.

There’s a campaign called “The Real Cost” that advocates for the end of smoking in America. This campaign has commercials and ads that reveal the detrimental effects of smoking, by specifically displaying the hideous costs. One commercial in particular emphasizes the staggering chemicals in cigarettes by creatively using frightening monsters to represent the chemicals.       

This commercial argues that cigarette smoking is harmful to your health, specifically based on the fact that cigarettes contain harmful chemicals that you inhale every time you smoke. The viewers of this commercial may be shocked to discover this information, but they can trust this fact because the commercial is sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Stasis Theory can be applied to this commercial, and it gives viewers knowledge on the negative effects of long term smoking.

·         The conjecture of this commercial is that each cigarette contains approximately 7000 chemicals.

·         The cause is the numerous studies performed to access the amount of toxins that can be found inside cigarettes.

·         The effects are that it will encourage viewers who smoke to avoid the harmful chemicals contained in cigarettes by quitting.

·         The value of this commercial is that smoking is a risky habit that causes negative health effects.

·         The action is to quit smoking as soon as possible in order to reduce the consequences.

·         The jurisdiction is that smokers should decide for themselves whether they want improve their well-being by quitting or to continue to harm their health.

 

-Jena Baguyos

 

The Views on Smoking in the 1960's: Rhetorical Argument and Stasis Theory

In the 1950’s and early 1960’s America cigarette smoking was depicted as trendy and sophisticated. Hollywood icons such as Audrey Hepburn and James Dean made smoking look attractive and cool. Cigarette smoking also grew popular for being cheap, legal and socially acceptable.

Most early European doctors followed the Native American belief that tobacco can be used as a medicine before the negative effects of smoking were known. To increase the sales cigarette companies’ overwhelmed people with ads on TV, radio, billboards, in magazines and newspapers. Several advertising campaigns from the 1930's through the 1950's praised the healthy virtues of cigarettes. Camel famously ran a commercial saying: "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” to relieve the fears of smoking.

This commercial argued that Camel’s cigarettes were the best cigarette brand based on a national survey in which doctors claimed that their product had the best taste and mildness. The viewers of this particular ad were inclined to believe that this information was true because credible doctors approved of this fact.

The Stasis Theory can be applied to this commercial, and it will give people an understanding of America’s positive opinion on smoking during the 1960’s, before we initially knew of its harmful side effects.

·         The conjecture of the advertisement is that doctors during this time period approved of smoking cigarettes, specifically Camel’s cigarettes.

·         The cause was the Camel cigarette company wanted to increasing sales be persuading that they had the best product compared to other brands.

·         The effects were that it encouraged viewers to smoke Camel cigarettes because it was the favorite among doctors around the world.

·         The value of this commercial was that smoking was portrayed as a socially accepted act.

·         The jurisdiction was that the consumers should decide whether Camel’s cigarettes are the best tasting compared to other brands after them have tried them.

 

-Jena Baguyos