A Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Smoking

Did you know over thirty percent of Americans smoke? Smoking is one of top deaths in America and is easily preventable. Americans today are surrounded by advertisements about smoking. According to ABC News, exposure to cigarette ads leads young people to identify smoking with popularity and relaxation, and these associations are stronger than any perceived risk picked up from anti-smoking ads. ABC News is trying to express how young Americans are influenced to smoke by advertisements. One of the images I chose is against smoking. This image has a young boy smoking a cigarette as the smoke forms a gun. The second image I chose is a positive advertisement about a type of cigarette, which expresses the relaxation of smoking. Comparing and contrasting

these two images, the viewer can be influenced, but also warned about smoking by directing the images towards a certain audience, the colors used, and facial expressions in the images.
The image with a young boy smoking a cigarette is directed towards smokers and nonsmokers of all age. The audience the image will most likely appeal to is those who oppose smoking. For the non-smoking audience, the image will help them understand the danger of smoking and the negative health effects. Also, this audience believes it will help people who smoke, understand the harm and possibly cause them to quit. Research shows that there is several different ways to quit smoking. Some of these include a nicotine patch, gum, nasal spray, inhaler, and many more ("Smoking and Respiratory Diseases”). Anti-smoking advertisements are broadcasted throughout America by television, radio, or magazines. The continuous images of anti-smoking advertisements to smokers, is only a reminder of the harm they are doing their bodies. However, most smokers are already aware of the dangers of smoking and will continue to smoke because they are addicted. Smokers can also find images like the smoke forming a gun, obnoxious and repetitive because Americans are knowledgeable about the risks of smoking. Research from Fox Chase Cancer Center discusses the different risks of smoking. Some they discuss in the article is several different cancers such as lung, throat, mouth, stomach, pancreatic, nasal cavity and more (Cigarette Smoking). Also, besides cancer there are many diseases a smoker can get such as heart disease, stroke, bronchitis, and many more (Cigarette Smoking). Fox Chase Cancer Center is trying to help smokers understand the harm they do to their body and side affects of smoking. Each one of the risks associated with smoking can kill a person. Americans today are aware of the dangers of smoking. Images are advertised everywhere in America, which catch a smoker or non-smokers attention.
The illustrator of this image expresses the dangers of smoking through the color of the image. The illustrator of the image made the colors black and white because smoking is a life or death situation. Also, the colors of the image is trying to express what the inside of a smokers body looks like. The colors used in the image connect with both smokers and non-smokers. The black and white image is presents negative effects of smoking, which shows non-smokers the danger and to smokers it does not mean much, but is still presenting to them the harm they are causing to their body each time they smoke a cigarette.
There is only one facial expression used in the black and white image. The expression on the young boys face is neutral. The young boy does not know how to feel about smoking, but he does understand it can kill him. The smoke forming a gun shows this. By the smoke forming a gun, shows the boy is killing himself with each cigarette he smokes. However, the image does a great job at grabbing the viewer’s attention. In the American culture, Guns are considered dangerous and is a controversial topic in America. The gun also represents suicide, which is basically saying they should just point a gun at their own head.
The positive image of smoking encourages smoking.

The image has a middle-aged man and women dancing, which is presenting smoking as relaxing. Also, this image can be directed towards smokers and non-smokers. For non-smokers, the audience will see the advertisement as repulsive and wrong. The audience will view it as the American culture encouraging young females and males to smoke. The audience it will appeal the most to is those who smoke cigarettes. This audience will be attracted to the advertisement of Salem cigarettes because of the colors, images, and words presented. The colors used are earth tone, which is blue and green. The earth tone colors express freshness the cigarette gives. The man and women on the advertisement are dancing on a pier smoking a cigarette. The audience views cigarettes as relaxing and fun. Also, the image presents the words, “Step into the wonderful world of Salem.” This phrase follows the dancing image, which is trying to tell their viewers the cigarette is the best. The facial expressions on the middle aged man and women are happy. As they smoke the cigarette, they feel like they can do anything in the world because they are “stepping into the wonderful world of

Salem.”
As these two images were compared and contrasted, the meaning of each image was strongly presented. However, the image of the young boy smoking as the smoke forms a gun, expresses a stronger message than the other image. Each image has an audience the image is directed towards, the colors that are used, and the facial expression of how cigarettes made a person feel. Since one image is promoting cigarettes and the other is against smoking, they use opposite colors to help support the message about cigarettes. A viewer can be easily influenced by any positive advertisement about cigarettes, but the other image does a great job a giving the audience awareness of the dangers of smoking. Smokers and the advertisements of smoking surround people in America. Advertisements aim their product towards all people without informing them of the risks involved with the product.