Brian Gross

Truth in Advertising
Millions of people smoke cigarettes. It is a habit, an addiction often formed at an early
age, and one which is extremely difficult to break. Before research was able to show its negative
effects, smoking was undoubtedly a part of American culture. Role models smoked, smoking
advertisements were plentiful, and smoking was allowed nearly everywhere. Now that the
hazards of smoking have been discovered, governments, businesses, organizations, and
individuals have taken steps to phase smoking out of society; and, to be sure, they have been
rather successful. The number of smokers in America has approximately halved in the past 50
years. Despite restrictions and warnings, however, approximately twenty percent of Americans
are regular smokers. Among other considerations such as addiction, this number has been
attributed to a lack of awareness in society about the truth of the harmful side effects of smoking.
It is understood that we need more truth.
Truth is an organization dedicated to spreading awareness of the effects of smoking. It is
perhaps best known for its raw, fear-inducing TV commercials, usually depicting a person who
has been gruesomely affected by his/her smoking habit. However, they also create and spread
posters, such as the one attached, designed to spread awareness of the negative effects of
smoking. The poster depicts a nuclear bomb between the number 10 and a brain, with arrows
connecting the bomb to each image and a smoke cloud in the background. In a large, bold text,
the poster says THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF NICOTINE HIT THE BRAIN WITHIN 10
SECONDS. Despite its simplicity, the poster makes use of strategic design and rhetoric to
accomplish more than Truths stated goal. In additon to spreading awareness, the poster
effectively instills fear in the reader and advances the movement to phase out smoking entirely.
The most evident and powerful aspect of the poster is its use of pathos. It connects a
nuke to a human brain, using nicotine, the addictive substance contained in cigarettes, as the
bridge. The notion of a nuclear bomb raises graphic images of destruction. In World War II,
they were used to obliterate entire cities, killing thousands of people and destroying the
surrounding area. The poster likens this destruction to the destruction caused by nicotine; just as
a nuclear bomb obliterates cities, smoking obliterates the brain, and just as a nuclear bomb kills
people, smoking kills brain cells. It is one of the most gruesome images imaginable. The poster
takes advantage of this image by associating it with nicotine. Although the mission of Truth, as
stated by the organization itself, is merely to spread awareness about smoking, not to combat
smoking, the poster serves as a deterrant. It uses scare tactics aimed at current smokers and
potential smokers in hopes of making them realize the dangers of cigarettes and nicotine.
Interestingly, however, the destruction caused by the nuke is not the focus of the poster.
While nuclear bombs cause mass destruction, the poster zeroes in on the speed of a nuclear
detonation. It takes the sheer scale of demolition caused by a nuke to be common knowledge;
instead, the poster connects the quickness of nicotine and nuclear bombs. Just as nukes destroy
large areas of land very quickly, nicotine destroys important areas of the body, such as the brain,
very quickly. This gives a certain urgency to the poster. Viewers must know the facts, the
truths, immediately to protect themselves from the dangers caused by nicotine.
Additionally, the emphasis of the poster is nicotines effect on the brain, not the lungs.
The most common smoking awareness efforts usually focus their attention on the connection
between smoking and lung cancer. However, nicotine affects the brain as well as the lungs. The
poster uses this to develop pathos. Nicotine takes control of a smokers brain, leaving matters
such as addiction out of the smokers control, in a time where control is so highly valued.
Further contributing to the pathos of the poster is the color scheme. The poster is
exclusively in a tattered black and off-white. This serves two purposes. The first is to give the
poster an eerie feel. It makes the advertisement seem bleak. The bleakness of the poster, then,
becomes associated with the bleakness of a future involving smoking. Once again, this strays
from the more objective mission of Truth and tends toward anti-smoking advocacy.
Additionally, the color scheme gives the poster an old-time feel. As a whole, the poster
resembles war propaganda from the World War II era. Combining this with the black-and-white
brings forth an interesting set of appeals. The old-time feel and war resemblance appeal to the
more likely smokers. Middle-aged and older males are the most likely demographics to be
frequent smokers. The black-and-white future associated with smoking is designed to scare
probable smokers and help them kick their habit.
If Truth is truly an objective company, and the poster is intended to only display the facts
of smoking, then why does the poster resemble war propaganda? Objectivity and propaganda
are two diametrically opposed forms of argument. Propaganda is entirely comprised of advocacy
for a cause. In this case, the resemblance of the poster to propaganda implies non-neutrality.
The text surrounding the central image of the poster was carefully chosen as well. It
states a single fact very frankly: The negative effects of nicotine hit the brain within 10
seconds. Nowhere in the text does it mention smoking or any sort of advocacy against
smoking. This contributes to a logos which aids the use of pathos to deter smoking. If the
negative effects of nicotine harm ones brain almost immediately, it makes no logical sense to
begin smoking in the first place. Coming from a company called Truth, the viewer takes the
statement to be a fact. This gives authority to the text through the use of ethos. It validates the
information presented on the poster. The name Truth, then, is making a rhetorical claim to
objectivity. The name of the company matches the non-advocacy of its mission and its poster.
Out of context, the fact stated on the poster is simply a fact; a truth. When looked at objectively,
it does not advocate a cause, advance a belief, or anything of the sort. If anything, the
companys name claims intentional neutrality on the topic. However, contextually, it is very
much an attack on cigarette smoking.
In the United States, cigarettes or any other tobacco product come with a large printed
warning from the government stating the inherent dangers of using it. For cigarettes, users are
warned that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate
pregnancy. Because these dangers are listed on cigarette cartons, smokers consciously ignore
the warning and take the risk when they participate in smoking. In essence, they have seen the
warnings numerous times, but they continue to smoke. If this is true, then, what is the function
of the poster? If smokers consciously ignore much more explicit, graphic warnings every time
they smoke, how does this poster, which is undoubtedly less explicit, differ from any other anti-
smoking advertisements? If they are already aware, why is Truth trying to spread awareness?
The most common anti-smoking advertisements on TV and elsewhere usually depict
graphic images of a smoker whose addiction destroyed his/her body in some way. There have
been widespread commercials showing individuals with holes in their necks, people with
artificial voice-boxes, and other painful-to-think-about deformities caused by their smoking.
These commercials are certainly enough to deter any non-smoker from smoking. However,
smokers, who undoubtedly see these ads too, continue to smoke cigarettes despite seeing the
perils of their potential future.
The main issue with these TV advertisements is the disconnect created by the medium.
When watching a TV commercial, viewers are distanced from the reality occurring in their
magical picture-box. The individual in the commercial almost seems like he/she is from a
different world confined in the television. Furthermore, a viewer can change the channel, or
engage in a plethora of other distractions removing the viewers eyes from the advertisement.
Smokers viewing these graphic commercials on TV do not feel the immediacy of the danger
facing them resulting from their addiction. Additionally, the cases depicted are so rare that a
smoker knows such a condition will probably not affect him/her. This disconnect limits the
effectiveness of graphic anti-smoking television commercials targeted at smokers.
The poster effectively addresses this alienation issue by simply being a poster. Once a
poster catches the eye of a passerby, and the individual makes the conscious decision to read it,
he/she reads it in its entirety. Whereas television advertisements are optional to pay attention to,
once a poster captures your attention, it retains it until you finish reading it. Additionally, the
proximity required to read a poster places the reader close to the issue it presents. In this case, a
smoker reading Truths poster would not feel distanced from the message. He/she would be
right in front of the poster when reading it. Furthermore, the text displayed in the poster applies
to all smokers. The negative effects of nicotine hitting the brain in ten seconds pertains to all
smokers; it is not a rare situation like those depicted on TV. Despite not being graphic, the text
has a set of universally accepted sentiments associated with it. While the text only says
negative effects, non-smokers and smokers alike know these negative effects include cancer,
heart disease, and many more gruesome illnesses.
Truths mission to spread awareness of the negative effects of smoking is an objective
view. It does not advocate, in principle. However, this poster, which maintains an objective
faade, is all but objective in context. While the individual elements of the poster do not present
an argument for or against anything, collectively they cause the reader to fear smoking cigarettes.
The poster provides a strong, urgent advocacy against smoking in a manner more effective than
the common advertisements and warnings of modern times. However, awareness and action are
two different things. Ultimately, Truths advocacy oversteps its claim to objectivity in spreading
awareness, and it is aimed at getting smokers to change their behavior. Although it is merely a
piece of paper, this poster effectively stimulates this action in the effort to phase out smoking
altogether; an advocacy of which Truth is all-too aware.