Homework #3: Cigarettes Retro Ad

     I got this ancient ad from a blog entry titled 40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements while I understand why the author would call these ad gorgeous(probably because of the vintage effect and the colors) we can clearly see how harmful this ad is, especially that it involves cigarettes and also from a media literacy point of view, since they used a lot of very well known techniques that are used to fool and persuade the consumers who are exposed to this ad.
     The techniques used in this Ad are numerous, I will try to list all of them and give a brief example of discription from this Ad...

1. Hyperbole: i.e. exaggeration... we can see this technique when they used the words "Tangy" "Rich" "Luscious" and "Delicious".
2. Beautiful People: the use of good looking people and faces is very apparent in this ad, which makes it more attractive.
3. Simple Solution: in this ad, they want the consumer to understand that if you buy this brand of cigarettes and blow some of the smoke on a womans face... she will follow you everywhere! Magical isn't it ? While what I really think is that if you blow smoke on someone's face, the least you can expect is a slap in the face.
4. Lies: I really find it hard to classify if this lie is a big lie or a small lie... but from the description of the ad, they say that you can "get smoking satisfaction with inhaling smoke" which does not make sense... since the "smoking satisfaction" comes from the nicotine that is absorbed when you inhale the smoke into your lungs, and no other satisfaction can be achieved by cigarettes other than this way.

     Although almost every country has organizations like the ASA(UK's regulator of advertising) to control and regulate the ads, its contents and placing these techniques are still overused, while I was looking around for ads to use in this article as an example, a lot of the new very modern ads use the same techniques and ever more, so the next time you come across an ad, whether it is a poster or a TV ad, take a minute to think of all the techniques that might give you false hope or information!