Advertising cigarettes

Abstract

This study is about cigarette advertising and the way it has changed in the past seventy years. It uncovers the ideology behind the cigarette adverts we see everyday and take for granted. The study is objective and shows through textual analysis that the bottom line for all cigarette adverts is the same; cigarette manufacturers are concerned with the selling of cigarettes. They strive to use advertising effectively in order to maintain their brand loyal consumers and in the process also create new users. The first chapter of this study is an introduction which states the objectives of this study. Chapter two shows how the change in the image of smoking has come about and discusses the future of cigarette advertising. It also looks briefly at the history of advertising from the time of the first newspapers. I chose to start from this period because it is closer to the period which marks the onset of smoking and also because it is here that the earliest tobacco adverts are found. Chapter three describes two different research methods and gives reasons for the method chosen and used for analysis. Chapter four analyses six cigarette print adverts, four anti-smoking, electronic adverts, a local anti-smoking poster which formed part of a 1996 calendar for Cash For Cancer and an advert for Diesel clothing which mocks smoking. This chapter applies the concepts discussed in chapter two. Chapter five is a conclusion for this work which summarises the main points of the study and brings everything together as a whole.