Chilean Corporation Against Cancer: The Harmful Effects Of Smoking

The Chilean Corporation Against Cancer, or CONAC, created an ad in 2008 referring to the harmful effects of smoking. This ad focused mainly on second hand smoking. The ad is organized on a plain black background a young boy hysterically crying with a plastic bag over his head. However, the bag over the boys’ head isn’t actually plastic, but smoke. This powerful ad shows that the little boy is suffering from the “bag” of smoke over his head. At the bottom of the ad reads the slogan of the company’s campaign, “Smoking isn’t just suicide. It’s murder.” Also at the bottom of the ad states the Chilean Corporation Against Cancer’s logo. On the surface, this ad appears to create amazing imagery to help influence the decision people make on

The main point of this particular ad is how bad it is to smoke around children, and the negative effects it has on them. The ad makes people feel different about smoking around children because they are potentially harming their health. In an essay on effective advertising, Jean Kilbourne states that:

“Advertising constantly promoted the core belief of American culture: that we can recreate ourselves, transform ourselves, transcend our circumstances - but with a twist… This American belief that we can transform ourselves makes advertising images much more powerful than they otherwise would be” (122).

Second hand smoking can damage anyone’s health, but the ad mainly focuses on the effects of children and how horribly they suffer from breathing in second hand smoke. The image of the young boy being suffocated by a plastic bag shaped like a cloud of smoke seems very effective because it makes people feel sorry for distressed children who suffer from being choked by the smoke unwillingly. The ad hits smokers that have children with a wake up call. Also, the use of the black background seem very effective because it makes the image of the young boy more noticeable and eye catching. The black color of the background could possibly represent a parallel between the color of death. If people see the ad in a public place, it makes them want to stop and look to find out more about it. However,

The lack of text forces the viewer to interpret the ad through the picture. Also in Kilbourne’s essay, she states that, “almost all tobacco and alcohol ads are entirely image-based. Of course, when you’re selling a product that kills people, it’s difficult to give honest information about it” (124). This ad primarily uses image because it has it’s own voice depending on how viewers interpret it. The ad shows many different meanings with the single image. Even though the picture is powerful enough, the ad still has the slogan at the bottom saying, “Smoking isn’t just suicide. It’s murder.” The aggressive slogan has an intense, serious tone that makes smokers think deeper about smoking around children. Smokers even are pressured with the guilt about smoking around their children or anyone’s children. Parents that do not smoke are outraged towards smokers after seeing this ad because it shows that their children are in danger of second hand smoke. The audience for the ad is anyone that has children in their life. This ad is intended to reach out to smokers to help them understand that they are not just affecting their own health, but other’s as well. Some viewers might be offended by the visual message of the ad. The image of the young boy with the plastic bag over his head is indeed powerful, but it still isn’t enough for some people to quit smoking. The slogan on under the image makes it