cigarette ads

In today's world of political correctness it kind of surprises me that the advertisement of cigarettes is still considered ethical. Clearly, cigarette ads have been regulated much more than they were in the old days when cigarette ads did not have to convince consumers that smoking was cool, but convince them why smoking "x" brand will make you even cooler than "y" brand. 

I started thinking about this when I started watching the T.V. series Mad Men. This show is about an ad firm in the early sixties. One of their clients, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, is in a panic to keep their image away from the newly discovered research of "cigarettes will kill you".  The creative exec, Don Draper, comes up with his solution to the cigarette problem: Advertising is based on one thing," Don says. "Happiness." Everyone else's tobacco is poisonous, but Lucky Strike's is "toasted." Within moments, the Lucky Strike folk are sold. The show is portraying how much cigarettes were glorified in those days. The ads really did make consumers believe if they smoked, they would be cool.

 

It seems like in the year 2008, after all we know of the dangers of tobacco use, this kind of 

tobacco advertising as portrayed in Mad Men would have come to an end because of ethics. A couple days ago I came across a cigarette ad for Davidoff Cigarettes. This ad particularly bothered me because of how much it reminded me of the ads from Mad Men. It had an old fashion styling to it, appealing to those who want to believe smoking is cool. I do not know why I was so negatively affected by this ad. I think part of it is because I wear Davidoff perfume. I do not like the fact that the fragrance brand I wear also manufactures tobacco products. 

kinda embarrassing

 

This video makes me feel embarrassed for PC. I think that they thought by retaliating to the incredible Apple ads that make PCs look horrible, they could respond and reverse the effect and overall image that the Apple ads created for PC. However, this ad about the guy who actually works for PC just makes me like Apple more... this guy is a huge dork! He is awkward and rambles about nothing that would convince me to buy a PC over a Mac.  

real subtle

This ad was banned.. I wonder why. I find it a little crude, not funny at all and of very low quality. Maybe it is because I knew it was banned before watching it, but I felt like this ad was painfully obvious and cliche of all terrible condom commercials. Even though the Trojan advertisements are racy and sexual, at least they grab your attention for their brand in a different way and are done somewhat artfully. In my opinion, the people who attempted this ad should have known better from the beginning that it would be banned.

Intertextuality in advertising

The advertisements from the 42nd Super Bowl are loaded with pop culture intertextual connections. One in particular that I thought exudes this is this ad for Budweiser beer. The old cultural text that this ad is referencing is the movie, Rocky. It takes the theme and idea of motivation from the movie, however, in the ad it a horse being motivated by a dog instead of a boxer and his coach. I think the reference is very cute. Budweiser did a series of these commercials, using the horse to portray that Budweiser is the best beer. In all the Budweiser horse commercials, the horses are drawn to want to pull the Budweiser beer carriage and work very hard to do so. This Super Bowl commercial adds to the horizontal intertextuality of the Budweiser ads.  In seeing one Bud and horse ad, the viewer will think of another.