Rhetorical Analysis Of Anti-Smoking Advertisements

Anti-smoking advertisements occasionally pop up throughout our society, often showing the harmful effects of tobacco through graphic pictures or other startling images. The advertisement I chose is a black and white picture, showing a young man smoking a cigarette, with the smoke from it forming a gun pointed at his head. Off to the side appear the words, “Kill a cigarette, save a life. Yours.” The advertisement utilizes the three rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos through its image and implied meanings. Through this, the image is able to convey a vivid sense of danger and promote awareness of the deadliness of smoking.
The image was created to evoke a response from its audience, which are both smokers and non-smokers alike. In
The black and white of the image creates a definitive yes or no situation by implying that the decision to smoke or not is a life or death decision. The young man is staring straight into the camera with a neutral expression on his face, which makes the image and thought of death more personal to the viewer. The smoke that is forming the gun appeals to the emotions in several ways. It immediately grabs the audience’s attention, since guns are not only dangerous, but a controversial topic in American culture. The smoke gun is also suggestive of suicide. It’s saying that if someone smokes, they might as well be pointing a gun at their own head. This causes the viewer to be taken aback because the young man is clearly going to be the cause of his own death. Suicides are tragic occurrences, but also hot topic in pop culture: the audience feels a dark but intriguing sense when the mention of someone ending their own life is brought up. This image of the man with the cigarette smoke gun pointed at his head employs the use of ethos, logos, and pathos through its coloring and controversial message. Though weakened by its prejudice and ineffectual placement of words, the simple message that smoking is hazardous to one’s health still proves its point in Ashcraft’s image. Smoking is very prevalent throughout the world, but so are anti-smoking advertisements. This disagreement of ideologies is the fuel to the never-ending battle between smokers and the