Advertisements pummel us from every angle in modern times. We no longer have to leave our homes to be the victims of aggressive billboards and magazine ads, imploring that we buy and notice. Now the advertisements show up in our mailboxes, on our doorsteps, in our television screens, and in our inboxes. There is no escaping advertising. The primary basis of advertising is the use of words, and how they affect us on a fundamentally psychological level. Words and phrases, sometimes simple and sometimes complex, have the power to change how we view a product. At times, it makes us want a product more than we have ever wanted anything. Words can manipulate us into thinking we need things we do not need. However, what happens when the advertising is so well crafted, it says something without using words? Recently I was struck by an ad for Marlboro cigarettes that, apart from the health disclaimer, had no words at all. Yet, without words, it still managed to spout the usual lies that every cigarette ad manages to convey. The evaluation is based on how, though words are important, sometimes they are not necessary in order to convey a message in a false advertisement.
According to, “With These Words I Can Sell You Anything,” there are a variety of trigger words that will mislead the viewer or reader into thinking the product is something it is not. For example, Lutz explains “help” is not only a weasel word, but also the biggest of all, and it means nothing more than to assist. However, many consumers are fooled into thinking “help” means to stop or vanquish . Various other weasel words are mentioned throughout the article, leading the reader to believe that words are the cornerstone of false advertising. In many cases, they are. However, as in the ad I saw, they are not always necessary. The ad I noticed caught my attention because it spoke so loudly without using any words at all. It showed two simple cups of coffee next to two lit cigarettes lying in a clean ashtray on a counter. The lines of smokes from the cigarettes had floated into the air, curling themselves into a heart. A half full coffee pot was in the background. There were no words in the advertisement, but the suggesting that cigarettes and smoking will garner an individual love and affection, and possibly company the morning after an illicit encounter, were loud and clear.
As stated in, “Fashion, Advertising, and Identity in the Consumer Society,” advertisements such as these are becoming more common; the consumer is sometimes more swayed by suggestive photos or explicit diagrams . Studies have shown that when advertising items that have the appeal of making the consumer appear “cooler” it is becoming more customary for companies and corporations to use less words, letting the brand or item speak for itself . It appeared, given the strong suggestion that the initial smoker was not alone in his or affair, that the cigarette company had decided to follow this method of advertising, allowing the idea of two cigarettes and two cups of coffee after a long night to play on the consumer’s imagination.
Other aspects of the advertisment played silently, but somehow loudly, on the consumer, as well. For example, two cigarettes sat in an ashtray. Cigarettes are usually associated with a foul odor, ashes, and filth. However, the ashtray was completely clean, despite the fact that the cigarettes themselves were beginning to ash. Techniques like this, especially concerning smoking, may be used to target certain demographics. Women in particular, according to, “Can’t But My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel,” may begin to change their outlook on smoking, as well as smokers if exposed to this type of advertising enough times . Essentially, they will begin to associate smoking less with filth and a foul odor, and more with companionship and even cleanliness thanks to the state of the ashtray. In 12% of cases, according to studies, women may begin to think about, and even take up smoking because of their changed outlook, according to an article published in the Central European Journal of Public Health . These results would effectively make forms of advertising a type of brainwashing, changing an individual’s outlook until they perform actions that they would otherwise be unlikely to perform.
Men are as susceptible to this tactic as women, though it is most powerful when used on adolescents. Studies published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research showed that not only are adolescents and teens the most susceptible to suggestive advertisements concerning tobacco and nicotine, but also that they are the most responsive to suggestive ploys that engage the imagination . The advertisement did not express what happened the night before, nor that it was even morning. It did not specifically express how well the two parties knew each other either. Virtually everything in the advertisement was left open to the consumer’s interpretation. For young adults, desperate to fit in and find companionship, an advertisement giving the slightest hint that cigarettes may give them help could be lethal, quite literally .
In sum, though Lutz found many words that could mislead the consumer into believing the product was something it was not, there are many other ways advertisements can be deceiving. The cigarette advertisment is perhaps more frightening than a misrepresntation through words because it preys upon our own imaginations in a deeper, psychological way. Without using words, the advertisment turns the consumer’s imagination on itself in a viscious misleading way. Though they do not specify what cigarettes can bring the consumer, they do not specify what they cannot bring the consumer either, creating a climate wherein it is the consumer’s fault rather than the advertiser’s.
References
Kaleta, Doreta, Bukola Usidame and Kinga Polanska. "Tobacco Advertisements Targeted on Women: Creating an Awareness Among Women." Central European Journal of Public Health (2011): 73-78. Article.
Kellner, Douglas. "Fashion, Advertising, and Identity in the Consumer Society." Mathur, Nita. Consumer Culture, Modernity and Identity. Sacramento: SAGE Publications, 2012. 168-188. Book.
Kilbourne, Jean. Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. Boston: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Book.
Lutz, William. "With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything." Consumer Nation: Wanting It, Selling It (2008): 112-123.
Wray, Ricardo J., et al. "Young Adults’ Perceptions About Established and Emerging Tobacco Products: Results From Eight Focus Groups." Nicotine and Tobacco Research (2012): 184-190. Article.
