Cdc Anti Smoking Ads

The Center for Disease Control created an anti-smoking campaign in 1998 that favoured humour and an edgy layout to convey their messages. The CDC’s visually unnerving images and large block text instantly catch a viewer's attention and cause a reaction. The anti-smoking campaign used a deglamorization strategy, using images that confuse the viewer at first causing them look closer at the ad. The anti-smoking campaign was made to contrast the ads marketing for cigarettes during that time. Brands like Marlboro and Camel wanted to sell their cigarettes and tried to make smoking seem positive and of the social norm. The CDC ads wanted to negate these ads and aimed to leave viewers thinking that cigarette smoking was unattractive and even ridiculous.

The boldness of the writings could be seen as a command, reminding me of the Uncle Sam posters stating “I want you for the U.S. army.” It’s a phrase that tells what it wants the viewer to do which is “Don’t be a Butthead” or don’t smoke. The red letters of the phrase are in contrast to the rest of the black and white image helping it to stand out. The spacing between the words allows readers to move through the sentence fluidly while the fonts style has the progressive edge needed to capture viewers attention. The word choice of “butthead” could be targeted towards the younger generation who is using this vernacular already and helping the ad to connect with its audience and express the foolishness of smoking. It could also stand as a reminder to people who already smoke that doing so in public make others see you as a “butthead” or a

The price of tobacco went down in the 90’s causing cigarettes to be less expensive. This caused a higher increase in a number of cigarettes being sold. During this time smoking was seen as the “cool” thing to do within groups of teenagers causing a higher increase in the number of younger smokers. A majority of the teenagers who started smoking were unable to kick the habit due to the addiction to nicotine. Although there are warnings on cigarette packs, they are often ignored by the smoker. People who don't smoke were exposed to the dangers of the act nearly as much as the actual smoker due to the second-hand smoke. The children of smokers are especially vulnerable due to their inability to escape the smoke as easily as an adult would be able to. The ad served as another reminder to the smoker that smoking is bad for them and is not something they would want to do around