Thursday, July 10, 2008


This is an advertisement opposing cigarettes, the usage of smoking and the selling of cigarettes. It is a picture of an enormous, cigarette stick that is about six feet in length and a foot or two in diameter, which has either landed on or simply weighed downed on top of a small, light copper toned hatch back (I am not too familiar with cars but it looks like an old model of a Toyota hatch back). There is a red sign with white wording that is comparing the number of deaths caused by car accidents to the total deaths caused by cigarettes in that particular year that is leaning against the midway of the body of the car, right under the giant cigarette . As in any add, there are fine prints at the bottom of the advertisement, however, due to the fineness of the prints, we are unable to make out the words. The automobile looks pretty outdated and wheels seem rusted but the car's exterior seems very clean. There is not other damage other than the huge indent on the roof and front window of the driver’s side where the cigarette has seemingly landed on first. You can see a yellow “police” tape through the window of the driver’s side, denoting that automobile is immobilized. Purposefully, the car is placed in a business, inner city environment, directly in front of a set of stairs that leads to a cement building; perhaps this is the front of a cigarette corporation. Behind the car, there are small businesses, one that is called “777”. There are no people or any traces of broken windows around the car; the only damage is caused by the cigarette.

It is clear that the advertisement is suggesting smoking kills. The number of death caused by car accidents is shadowed by the huge number of deaths caused by cigarettes. Because the sign is red, this message is implied to be a danger alert. Car accidents seem to be the cause of death which most people are familiar with, thus, juxtaposing the death toll between car accidents and cigarette smoking gives people an idea of how dangerous smoking is-- it kills more people than car accidents! Cigarettes may be physically small, but the damages are huge and heavy. So much so that it can put an end to or stops a person’s mobilization—it can literally stop you dead in your track, which this add implies with numbers and damage of the car which is a source of mobilization for hundreds and millions of people.

2 comments:

Christopher Schaberg said...

This is an excellent post, Koy. I especially like the way that you draw mobility into your description toward the end. There are a few typos, like "apposing" in the first sentence should actually read "opposing." And "wordings" should be "wording." "Set of stair" should be "set of stairs." In the sentence about the store 777, your "on" should be "one." All in all, though, you have done very well at carefully describing the details in this image. Nicely done.

Christopher Schaberg said...

Upon a second reading, I had a couple more questions by way of complicating this ad: Is the ad also a critique of driving, if driving can "kill" too? How specifically does the image link these two objects? I.e., smoking is not like alcohol, which can actually interrupt the way people drive; it would make sense to have a huge beer bottle smashed through a car, but what brings the cigarette down on the car? (Do you see what I mean?) I guess this is your point about smoking interrupts people's general mobility, which is reflected metonymically through this car—that makes sense.