Matthew Eilbacher

RCL 137H

Have a SmokeOr Dont

On January 1, 1971, at 11:59 PM, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson broadcasted

the final cigarette advertisement on American television. Per the Public Health Cigarette

Smoking Act, this seminal moment marked a shift in the popular attitude towards tobacco

products. The advertising industry mirrored this transition, launching advertisements as

admonitions rather than appeals of smoking cigarettes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) has been at the vanguard of this trend with The Real Cost Campaign. One such

commercial from this campaign, entitled Science Class, stresses the dangers of tobacco in a

particularly interesting way. It is most telling to juxtapose this advertisement with those that

predate the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act. Namely, The Flintstones Winston Cigarettes

commercial from 1960 offers a totally dissimilar perspective on the same product. Though these

advertisements reflect two different cultures and thusly contrast in content, they employ

analogous persuasion techniques with images and rhetoric that speak to the audiences emotion

and sense.

Science Class makes an emotive appeal to viewers with its depiction of children

learning about the perils of smoking in a classroom. The commercial presents a dimly lit science

classroom in which the children have somber countenances as the teacher speaks of tobacco. At

the front of the class, he dissects a repulsive, alien creature while listing the chemical contents of

tobacco. The camera focuses on the teacher so as to break the fourth wall in a certain creative

respect, allowing the audience at home to join the class. This technique has particular resonance

with children, as they are accustomed with a classroom environment; hence, the target audience
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of this particular advertisement is young people. Eventually, the creature breaks loose of the

teachers grip, shuffling through the classroom and snarling at the students. Terrified, the

children erupt in shrieks and run away from the beast. Therefore, the pathos of the commercial is

predicated on fear. As the creature scares the students, so too it should elicit fear in the audience

at it. Once emotions culminate, the beast crawls into a pack of cigarettes on the classrooms floor

as a narrator forebodingly says, If cigarettes looked as dangerous as they are, youd run like

hell. This vivification of cigarettes as a growling, mangled creature should give watchers a

strong visceral response. Therefore, the commercials primary means of persuasion is a scare

tactic. The advocates of The Real Cost Campaign want a strong emotional reaction from

children, and the equation of cigarettes with a beast provides just that.

The Flintstones Winston cigarettes commercial similarly makes a plea for strong

emotional response, but a positive one instead. The scene begins with main characters Fred and

Barney leisurely discussing what they should do. They have mutually dull expressions until

Barney suggests smoking Winston cigarettes, as he aggressively pulls them from his pocket.

Suddenly, the screen fills with smiles and excitement as the two of them smoke together. This

simple idea that Winston cigarettes make you happy has a powerful effect on the audience. The

advertisers draw this explicit cause and effect between smoking and cheerfulness, which preys

on individuals natural desire to be happy. Furthermore, it is key to note Winstons use of The

Flintstones, an incredibly popular television show and cultural staple of the mid-20th century.

When on screen, these characters stimulate viewers and make them laugh; the association of the

brands intertwines the emotions linked with them. As a cartoon, The Flintstones had great

control over a young demographic, the audience targeted by Winston. At the end of the

commercial, Fred Flintstone sings the jingle, Winston tastes good like a cigarette should in
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absolute jubilation with an accompanying upbeat tune. This song and its impassioned delivery

echo in the listeners mind as they make the subconscious link between the happiness they feel

watching and singing with The Flintstones and Winston products. Though the two commercials

are separated by over half of a century, they share a commitment to making strong emotional

appeals.

The Real Cost Campaign also made the rhetorical choice to use logic to convince its

audience not to smoke. In viewers minds, the classroom setting of the commercial implies a

learning environment. Naturally, the teacher has some ex officio authority; children watching at

home have the inclination to trust information from a teacher. This presentation style

automatically grants the commercial some credibility for viewers. Exploiting this dynamic, the

teacher begins didactically listing chemicals: formaldehyde, acrolein, nitrobenzene. Because

these compounds are likely unfamiliar to most, the commercial gains the intellectual upper hand.

With this authority, the teacher addresses the substance of the commercial by listing harms of

tobacco products, including prematurely wrinkled skin, stunted lung growth, tooth loss,

cancer This is the core of the advertisements logos; it is a logical appeal to the audience. All

of these potential perils of smoking beg the question in viewers minds: if I could be so harmed,

why would I smoke? As a consequence, this information can be quite persuasive when it reaches

the audiences ears, especially when delivered with the commercials powerful accompanying

images. Science Class utilizes a cogent two-step approach in which they first establish

authority to gain the audiences trust, and then with this authority, explain the logical reasons

why smoking is bad.

Likewise, The Flintstones Winston commercial uses logic to supplement their emotional

pleas in an effort to convince the audience to smoke. While Fred and Barney smoke together,
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Fred offers a spiel about the product, saying, Winston is the one filter cigarette that delivers

flavor twenty times a pack. Barney furthers this sentiment, asserting, Winston packs rich

tobacco specially selected and specially processed for good flavor in filter smoke. This

commercial tries to distinguish Winston cigarettes in viewers minds. Logically, the audience

would like to smoke the best tasting cigarettes. Moreover, the idea of being specially selected

and specially processed tickles ones intrigue. This claim, presented as a fact, makes the

audience curious to smoke Winston cigarettes. As aforementioned, the popularity of The

Flintstones cannot be overstated. Fred and Barney, television icons of their time, have significant

sway. Despite being cartoon characters, they offer a model for having fun that fans may parallel

in their own lives. The Flintstones compose the advertisements ethos and in so doing, have the

unique ability to persuasively deliver the core of the commercial that Winston cigarettes taste

good and are better than other options.

By using similar advertising tactics, these two commercials present divergent messages

on cigarettes, shedding light on the opinions of their respective times. The Flintstones

commercial encapsulates the zeitgeist of 1960s America; in leisure, it was customary to smoke

cigarettes to be happy. On the other hand, Science Class, in its name and its content, reflects

the improvements in science on tobacco. Both advertisements make concurrent emotional and

logical appeals. The combination of the two has strong persuasive capabilities. Because of their

effectiveness, these techniques transcend time. Irrespective of the message being conveyed, the

means of delivery will always take similar form. Nowadays, the dissemination of advertisements

is becoming even easier with technological improvements. Digital media is becoming defter in

persuading, even tailoring them at times to specific people based on preferences. Consequently,
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there is a blitzkrieg of advertisements in our daily lives, linked in nature by persuasion methods

that are over two millennia old.