Effective Media and Tobacco essays

Effective Media and Tobacco essays Advertising is everywhere we look today. According to recent estimates, most Americans see or hear nearly 2,000 advertisements a day, whether it is on television, radio, billboards, magazines, or newspapers. But what is advertising exactly? In short, advertising is a form of persuasion and misdirection from businesses or companies to convince buyers that their product is the best. One area of effective advertising is tobacco companies' advertising. Tobacco companies target teenagers most with their advertising. Many people can already see that but how much of an impact does it actually have on teenagers? Every day in the United States, another three-thousand children and teens become regular smokers, and one-thousand will eventually die from this use (Centers for Disease Control Prevention). The tobacco industry sells $1.26 billion in tobacco products each year to children under 18; that is over one billion packs of cigarettes (Journal of the American Medical Association). Most teens start smoking because their friends do, or they just think they will be cool. The two most advertised cigarette companies today are Camel and Marlboro. John P. Pierce, head of the University of California at San Diego's cancer prevention ad control programs, reports that teenagers were more likely than adults to identify Marlboros or Camels as the most advertised brand of cigarettes. This is because the Marlboro industry and Camel industry target teenagers with the "Marlboro Man" and cartoon characters such as "Joe Camel." Tobacco companies depict their products in such a way that influences a teenager's consumption choices. Marlboro chooses to depict their products by using a "cowboyish" role model known as the "Marlboro Man". The "Marlboro Man" is portrayed as a strong, rough resourceful male. He entices teenagers into believing that smoking Marlboro cigarettes will make them this type of rugged attra ...