A random rant on tobacco advertising
Drive around town, watch TV or flip through a mag, and sooner or later you’re going to come across one in the latest series of A Mild’s advertisements. You’ve might’ve seen them already, basically they’re just a bunch of blurbs that take aim at weighty issues such as the high cost of education or the energy crisis. Which is all very good and thought-provoking…but what the hell does it have to do with selling cigarettes? I’m no smoker, but even if I were, I sure wouldn’t need biting social commentary to make me light up. "Whoa, the government is screwing us over. Power to the people! Hand me a fag!" Actually I don’t think advertising gets any smoker to consume more than they already do, and may not even be the reason they got into it in the first place - I’d attribute that to peers or older people who are too retarded to know better than to set kids on the road to lung cancer.
But regardless of my views on smoking, cigarette manufacturers have a product to push, so fair enough. And given anti-tobacco laws prevent them from actually depicting cigarettes and smoking in their ads (except in some circumstances), well obviously it’s a pain in the arse trying to sell your product if you can’t actually show your product or what it does, or even fake it in a logical way, like you can fake the effects of detergent or diet pills. As a result, tobacco companies have to advertise in as interesting a way as possible the abstract concept of enjoyment to be derived from their product.
The most common result of this futile endeavour is one or a bunch of young, good-looking upper class jet-setters having the time of their lives and/or trying to look cool and brooding. But hang on a moment - I think I’ve cracked A Mild’s code! The purpose of their ad campaign is to make them stand out from all the other cigarette ads! "Let’s push social consciousness instead of hedonism, to make us look different! Our consumers will feel unique and individual!" Of course, given that everywhere you go someone’s got an A Mild in their mouth, so much for individuality. But then again, tobacco companies (and anyone selling something, for that matter) could care less about individuality as long as people keep buying…
