Krista Pflanzer

Dr. Brett Riley

ENG 102

6 March 2016

AD ANALYSIS/ SMOKING CUES

 There is something unnerving about the forward trajectory thrust of the upper body, that

is, above all else, literally dyingto inhale. The involuntary force of the upper respiratory

system in demand, in control where nothing else matters is a sometimes fatal force. Like an

oxygen junky that hasnt learned the crafts of his sickness. He needs to breathe. Everyone does.

This is your fault, is what this advertisement says to me. Banging hard on my guilt strings, like

a Jimmy Hendrix note crushing my chest. The guilt sits there as I look deeper into the Ad. I have

to look at this. I have to quit smoking, I tell myself, I really mean it this time. In my head, I

see my best friend, who has trusted in me when no one else did. Who has laid beside me when

vultures circled, waiting patiently. Without fear, quiet and faithful. Without judgement. I see how

he smoked every cigarette with me. I see how he has made the sounds of the asthma attack that I

can hear jumping off of this full page print advertisement. Suddenly I hate myself as I am

looking at this ad. I am motivated. I am motivated to do whatever it takes to quit smoking. I

decide to call this number as soon as I have a cigarette, because like this boy is frantically

needing oxygen, I am needing to smoke. What is it about this ad and ads like it that demand

action? More importantly what action are they demanding? I want to know who is behind this ad

and what their motivation is, because I dont trust them. This ad is deceptive and is selling much

more than a reason to quit smoking, in fact I dont believe it is trying to sell quitting at all.

This ad is part of a much larger and growing campaign called, Tips from Former

Smokers. In this advertisement, a full page print depicting a young black male named Jameson,

we are told in big, bold, white text that SECOND HAND SMOKE TRIGGERS SEVERE

ASTHMA ATTACKS. The text is placed center shot across the boys chest and ribcage. The

text is huge compared to all other text on the page and the only other text that stands out as well
is in the upper left hand corner, black background, outlined in white with an oddly shaped

statement that is difficult to discern but somehow familiar. The one word that stands out from the

statement is SMOKE as if it were a command. If one hasnt turned the page by now they might

read in the black rectangle beneath the hospital scene, When Jameson was 16, second hand

smoke triggered a severe asthma attack, he was hospitalized for four days. If you or someone you

know wants free help to quit smoking call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. The phone number is in bold.

Beneath the number we see #CDCTips also in white but not in bold. In very light text almost

lost in the scene, connecting Jamisons right pant leg to the blue pant leg of the hospital

technician are three lines Jamison, High School Student and Kentucky. To the right

bottom of the picture we find what may be a trademark or a symbol that emulates a bird in flight

crossing a semi-circle and to the right of it, we see CDC which stands for Center for Disease

Control and Prevention and to its right we see U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The perspective of the shot is brilliantly implied by the camera positioning. The angle emulates

the position of a (would be) family member or (at the very least) someone who cares enough to

be sitting in that room during an emergency. The boys arm extends out of shot. This visual can

be easily referenced by many.

Memory, which has a tendency to recall incidents of trauma, have triggers, which will

bring forth great emotion, such as incidents of great pleasure or great suffering and are a

precursor to action. How do we know this? Test yourself. Have you ever been injured and sent to

hospital? Do you recall the pain, the fear? Do you remember exactly what time of day or night it

was? Can you remember how the antiseptic burned or the smell of the air? Now be specific and

remember everything you can about that day. Now, pick an arbitrary date, say seventeen days

prior to day of injury. Can you be specific on the events of this day? Does this day stir up fear,
pain, grief or happiness, relief or any motivating voluntary or involuntary actions or feelings?

Now compare the two. Compare instantaneous responses or feelings you may recall later in the

day with regard to the self-test. Take it one step further; did the recollection manipulate or trigger

any direction or course of action. For example did you drive more carefully due to the memory

of a car accident or did you try to block out the memory and drive more radically? So for anyone

who has ever been a visitor to the hospital we can expect some reaction to this full page ad which

does its job impeccably by seating us in the room and connecting us to the severity of this idea.

If that is not enough we have the words TRIGGERS and SEVERE written in bold white

italicized just in the case we dont get it.

Well this ad triggers my memory well and it triggers me to smoke. So what are they

selling? There must be something for sale. I decide to call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to see how much

the free help will cost. The automated answering recording tells me that I have reached the

Nevada Tobacco Users Hotline. I am able to speak with a very nice woman with a reassuring

and warm voice. She tells me about the program. I should expect a thirty minute call for the first

communication that will consist of questions that will direct me to a cessation coach. The

cessation coach is a specialist who I will have access to for a certain number of calls in an

approximate 4-6 week period. The coach is a professional, though not a doctor who will let me

know what kind of medication will be available to me at no cost for the 4-6 week period I will be

spending with my cessation coach. The possible medications are the nicotine patch, nicotine

gum, nicotine lozenge and (here we go) Chantix. The hotline will be open to me from 5 a.m.

until 11 p.m. The coaches will mostly be asking a lot of questions. There are two conclusions

that I could draw from this. I could decide to take the positive road and take advantage of what

they are offering but NO! What they are offering is the free introduction to more reasons to be
lazy in my attempt. To not take responsibility and quit on my own by removal of the stimulus. A

shape begins to form of what it is they are selling. Right now it appears that they are selling

helplessness.

I decide to go to the CDC website. I find the mission statement of the CDC 24/7.

CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats,

both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic

or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights

disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nations health protection

agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish

our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that

protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds

when these arise. (CDC24/7)

This is troubling to me, but there are items of greater concern here. On the same

page as the mission statement is found and titled: CDC in the 21st Century which follows with

a bullet list:

Putting science into action tracking disease and finding out what is making

people sick and the most effective ways to prevent it.

Helping medical care bringing new knowledge to individual health care and

community
 health to save more lives and reduce waste.

Fighting diseases before they reach our borders detecting and confronting

new germs and diseases around the globe to increase our national security.

Nurturing public health - building on our significant contribution to have

strong, well-resourced public health leaders and capabilities at national, state and

local levels to protect Americans from health threats. (CDC24/7)

The form is becoming a bit more recognizable. By speaking in the language of fear and

separatist as if disease was stopped by border crossings or quarantined upon entering without the

proper visa. So now I am more certain that not only is this ad not selling or promoting the

genuine idea of quitting cigarette smoking but they are actually selling the need for the CDC

organization to exist and remain in existence. This ad is about public acceptance of the CDC and

is in place to cause a general feeling that the CDC is there to protect us and need not be

questioned. So when we hear about increased funding for the CDC no one will have too much

disagreement. We rely on the CDC to keep us healthy and our borders protected from foreign

disease, may be the actual idea promoted in this ad, featuring Jamison, who may be one of the

many messengers of the unscripted message. I also see the message, I cant do it on my own,

Promoting helplessness. (CDC24/7)

On page 558 of JAMA, appears an article dated Feb 10, 2015 Volume 313, Number 6

paragraph 14 written by Rita Rubin, MA, titled Successful CDC Campaign Tips from Former

Smokers to be Expanded informs us that: Senator Tom Harkin (D. IA) on December 10

announced an increase of $6 million that will enable the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) to expand the successful Tips from Former Smokers campaign and state
quit lines. The article goes on to say that the $6million is part of $216 million in new funding to

the CDC s Office on Smoking and Health in the fiscal year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill.

(Rita Rubin)

Oh, I forgot to mention, earlier when describing the design of the strangely placed

small black box that pronounced the command SMOKE most boldly, I remembered what it

vaguely reminded me of: the warning label on a cigarette pack. And according to an article

written by Yahui Kang , Bell Falla and Associates, Norwalk, CT; Joseph N. Cappella, Ph.D.,

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA and Andrew A.

Strasser , & Caryn Lerman, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,

PA; published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 11, Number 3 (March 2009) 254261

an article titled The effect of smoking cues in antismoking advertisements on smoking urge and

psychophysiological reactions, that would make sense. As These cues have been used in prior

cue-reactivity studies and elicited smoking urges in adult smokers (e.g., Hutchison, Niaura, &

Swift, 1999; Tiffany, Carter, & Singleton, 2000; Waters et al., 2004 ).

My best advice is that one try not to look at advertisement, unless we are looking with

critical attention to what it is exactly that is being sold.

 Works Cited

Control, Center for Disease. CDC 24/7. 14 April 2014. Web. 6 March 2016 <http:www. CDC

.gov/about/orginazation/mission.html>.

Hutchman, K. E., Niaura, R. & Swift, R., Smoking Cues Decrease Prepulse Inhibition of the

Startle Response and Increase of Subjective Craving in Humans. Experimental &

Clinical Psychopharmachology (1999): 7, 250-256

Rubin, Rita, MA. Successful CDC Campaign Tips from Former Smokers to be Expanded

JAMA 313.6 (2015): 558. Journal Network. 6 March 2016.http://jama.jamanetwork.com/.

Yahui, Kang, et al. "The Effect of Smoking Cues In Antismoking Advertisements on Smoking

Urge and Psychophysiological Reactions." Nicotine & Tobacco Research 11.3 (2009):

254-261. Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.