Meghan Jennings10/11/12CAS 137S

Rhetorical Analysis of Anti- Smoking Advertisement

Did you know that almost 20% of adults in the United States smoke cigarettes? It’s

the number one cause of death that is easily preventable. Anti-smoking advertisements

occasionally pop up throughout our society, often showing the harmful effects of tobacco

through graphic pictures or other startling images. The advertisement I chose is a black and

white picture, showing a young man smoking a cigarette, with the smoke from it forming a

gun pointed at his head. Off to the side appear the words, “Kill a cigarette, save a life.

Yours.” The advertisement utilizes the three rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos

through its image and implied meanings. Through this, the image is able to convey a vivid

sense of danger and promote awareness of the deadliness of smoking.

The image was created to evoke a response from its audience, which are both

smokers and non-smokers alike. In the non-smoking audience, the image will either

increase their distaste of smoking and its negative health effects, or they will be

unconcerned because it has little or no effect on them or their lives. The audience it would

appeal most to is the people who vehemently oppose cigarettes and smoking. People like

this may believe that anti-smoking ads will reach smokers and somehow convince them to

quit, but this is probably not the case. To smokers, the image will be a reminder of the harm

they are doing to their bodies. But for the most part, they will likely be indifferent to the

image because they already know it’s bad for their health, and will continue to smoke

because they are either addicted or are just apathetic to the situation. They may even find

ads such as this obnoxious and unoriginal because they feel as if it’s repetitive and a

personal attack on them and their views and habits. Because smoking is seen as such a bad

thing in U.S. society, they may detach themselves from advertisements that contradict what

they believe is okay.

The first rhetorical appeal, logos, is used in this image. The major premise is that

smoking is bad for your health. In many modern-day countries, this is general knowledge.

Almost any person, when asked, would say the same. This is especially true in Northern

American culture, as smoking is generally seen as damaging and negative, unlike in past

decades, where smoking was accepted and even encouraged throughout society. The minor

premise is that smoking is equivalent to pointing a gun at oneself. This is shown by the

smoke from the cigarette forming a handgun at the young man’s head. From the general

knowledge of the harm cigarettes do and the image of the gun, we can infer that the claim

the image’s creator is making is that smoking is suicidal. This claim is enhanced by the

words on the image “Kill a cigarette, save a life. Yours,” which encourages people that

smoke to put out their cigarettes. This is implying that if smokers continue to pollute their

lungs, it’s the same as if they pulled an invisible trigger on themselves.

The second rhetorical appeal, ethos, also has an effect on the image’s message. The

creator of the image, Kelly Ashcraft, isn’t a prominent photographer in society and is

probably known only by friends, close networks, and people on the internet who happen

upon her work. However, the audience is able to conclude several things about her

character and credibility through this image. The audience can infer that Ashcraft is trying

to encourage a healthy lifestyle in viewers because of her decision to create an anti-

smoking image. However, with sinister smoking images such as hers, it often paints the

creator as thinking negatively of smokers as people, not just the smoking aspect of their

lives. At least, to smokers this seems to be the case. Non-smokers who oppose cigarette use

will connect most strongly with this image because they and Ashcraft are of similar

mindsets about this particular issue. They, perhaps, will find her work more believable

than smokers because they agree more fervently with the message. Because Ashcraft isn’t

well known, it is difficult to completely know how credible she is, but what helps is that her

work is original and creative. Her attitude towards smoking parallels modern-day

America’s view towards smoking: it is incredibly harmful to a person’s health, can result in

death, and it also conveys a subtle negative view that looks down upon people who smoke

cigarettes. Because Ashcraft and the U.S. look down on smokers because it’s considered

“bad” nowadays, she loses some credibility because the image does seem very negative and

one-sided, and seems like it’s scolding smokers rather than trying to help them. The words

on the side don’t contribute to the image that much, and therefore don’t significantly help

Ashcraft. The words might have been more effective had she moved the “Yours” down and

below the preceding line. However, without any words, the image would not be as moving.

The last rhetorical appeal, pathos, also comes into play in the advertisement. The

black and white of the image creates a definitive yes or no situation by implying that the

decision to smoke or not is a life or death decision. The young man is staring straight into

the camera with a neutral expression on his face, which makes the image and thought of

death more personal to the viewer. The smoke that is forming the gun appeals to the

emotions in several ways. It immediately grabs the audience’s attention, since guns are not

only dangerous, but a controversial topic in American culture. The smoke gun is also

suggestive of suicide. It’s saying that if someone smokes, they might as well be pointing a

gun at their own head. This causes the viewer to be taken aback because the young man is

clearly going to be the cause of his own death. Suicides are tragic occurrences, but also a

hot topic in pop culture: the audience feels a dark but intriguing sense when the mention of

someone ending their own life is brought up.

This image of the man with the cigarette smoke gun pointed at his head employs the

use of ethos, logos, and pathos through its coloring and controversial message. Though

weakened by its prejudice and ineffectual placement of words, the simple message that

smoking is hazardous to one’s health still proves its point in Ashcraft’s image. Smoking is

very prevalent throughout the world, but so are anti-smoking advertisements. This

disagreement of ideologies is the fuel to the never-ending battle between smokers and the

media.