Pall Malls: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Cigarette Advertising

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Tobacco, not only has it been one of the biggest markets in the american economy since colonial times,. It is one of the most persuasive products, jumping through metaphorical hoops and obstacles to increase the amount of consumers, even if their product causes cancer. One of the best tobacco advertiser is pall malls. It's not because they have the best cigarettes or have been around the longest, it's the way they have expertly used rhetoric to persuade their audiences into buying and using more cigarettes, taking hold of opportunities that present themselves, and adapting to overcome government advertising restrictions. In the early 1900’s, way before the introduction of the television and mass radio, the only way to advertise was the newspaper. This not being an effective way of spreading their product being combined with the major competition between tobacco companies, led Pall Mall cigarettes to take advantage of a new huge market.. In 1917, arguably one …show more content…

The only main difference being which rhetoric strategies they used. The first and most common way Pall Mall’s made their product more desirable was using a famous figure. This method of rhetoric comes from the greek word ethos (the action of using a character or figure that hold a higher stature in a community to promote an idea or opinion). Tied into the ethos trend in these commercials, was to attempt to make smoking look like the coolest thing a teenager could do. Pall Mall commercials always showed people from all classes, wealthy businessman, fisherman, and women. This was a very effective technique that is still used today. In almost all of these television commercials, Pall Mall used the length of their cigarette compared to other to also justify why their product is better. The cause and effect marketing strategy seen in these commercials is also known as