African-Americans have often not been the target of public health campaigns and have

been neglected. When they were targeted for health campaigns, they were usually exploited in

some way, (such as the Tuskegee experiment or the forced sterilization due to racist/eugenic

ideas). These past instances make it hard to try and reach these communities so the use of certain

appeals must be used to convince these communities.

The ad pictured below is a Public Service Announcement published by the CDC. The

acronym CDC stands for the "Central for Disease Control and Prevention," an agency

headquartered in Atlanta Georgia. The CDC is responsible for monitoring the spread of disease

and public health in America so addressing issues like lung cancer is part of the agency’s work.
The purpose of this advertisement is to try and convince to get African-Americans to quit

smoking in order to prevent lung cancer while also educating them. The creators of this

advertisement use a variety of rhetorical appeals in order to accomplish their purpose. To begin,

they use facts to try and persuade African American men to stop smoking. The advertisement

states that African-American men have the highest rate of lung cancer. The CDC is the source of

the information, and they are referencing information from scientific studies that are placed on

the side. The CDC is a well-known organization and someone who is reading this ad is more

likely to trust the information on it if it's coming from a reputable source which is why the CDC

logo is likely included in the ad. This startling fact is attention-grabbing and might scare a viewer

into trying to quit. The ad creators also try to use emotional appeals. The CDC does its best to

sympathize with a possible smoker. For example, the phrases on the poster say, " Quitting is

hard" and "Its never too late." By showing an understanding of the struggle a smoker may face,

the viewer of the ad who may be doubtful or has failed to quit numerous times is more likely to

take advantage of the resources listed in the PSA. Furthermore, the composers of this

advertisement are also appealing to pathos by explaining that smoking hurts the family. The

advertisement explains a person who is smoking can cause harm to their loved ones due to the

effects of second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoking is when people other than active smokers

inhale harmful chemicals as a result of being active smokers. The advertisement uses the phrase

"even kids," when educating the audience. This phrase is significant as it appeals to the

protective side of the family member. Someone who lives with kids would want to protect them

as kids cannot protect themselves. By explaining this fact to the audience, they might be

persuaded to take the first steps to quit smoking in order to protect their kids and loved ones.

Additionally, visual appeals are also used. The font is bold and in all caps to bring attention to
the ad. Certain parts of the text are yellow as those are the main points that can be differentiated

from the rest of the text standing out against the dark background. Furthermore, an

African-American man is pictured in the ad as that is the target audience. The man has a very

serious expression and the lighting is dark showing that this is an important matter that needs to

be taken seriously. It makes it more urgent and scary compared to an ad with lighter colors.

Another artifact is this article published by Johns Hopkins. This article is an interview

about the COVID-19 vaccine and is meant to educate people about the COVID-19 vaccine.

African-Americans were the minority group with the least amount of vaccinations so this article

was an effort meant to combat this and examines the cause of such disparities. This article also

uses facts to dispel myths like the CDC ad. The advertisement by the CDC dispels the myth that

there is a safe way to smoke and the article dispels multiple myths about the COVID-19 vaccine.

The purpose of these facts both are meant to convince people who are unsure or misinformed so

they could make better decisions about their health. Ethos is also used in this ad as an

African-American doctor is the one being interviewed. Dr.Sheritta Hill Golden, is the Vice

President and Chief Diversity Officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine and is also a professor. As

previously stated, the African-American community has a large reason to distrust health

institutions so someone within the community is likely to be trusted.