Rhetorical Analysis Of Smoking Advertisement

A pregnant mother walks into frame and is placing sharp pins into an infant’s changing pad, as the scene changes she sharpens knives to hang from the infants mobile. The scene changes a few more times showing the mothers actions such as pouring poison into a baby bottle, inserting a child’s fork into an electrical socket, and laying a snake in the infant’s stroller. The scene changes one more time, the mother is sitting on a couch caringly stroking her stomach as she brings a cigarette to her mouth and then sits an ash tray on top of her stomach. This advertisement leaves viewers with the phrase “A mother can be her baby’s worst enemy” and the words of the Cancer Society of Finland explaining that ten thousand babies are at risk because of smoking during pregnancy as well to encourage mothers to quit smoking. This advertisement is trying to convey the dangers of smoking with showing “equivalences” of the same dangers of other hazards. Using a rhetorical analysis of this advertisement will create a further understanding of the argument that is being presented, the application of the canons of rhetoric, and its appeals regarding ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. The argument that is being presented by this advertisement is that smoking is hazardous for a baby during and after pregnancy. The advertisement showed this argument by the different scenarios which were unthinkable and obviously were extremely dangerous towards an infant, such as putting pins into a changing pad, pouring poison into a
After doing this rhetorical analysis of this advertisement, one may reach a deeper understanding of the argument presented being the anti-smoking stance, the application of the canons of rhetoric, as well as its appeals towards ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. Having explored these aspects, it was seen that each element held a different component to the