Truth's Advertisement example essay topic

Connotative and denotative meanings coexist frequently in advertising. It is important we analyze advertisements on both of these levels to obtain the full intention of them. This is the case with Truth's advertising campaign. Analyzed denotatively, this advertisement appears to be an extremely inefficient anti-smoking campaign, which relies on the use of deception, both in its false "facts" and in its name: Truth.

The advertisement itself involves too surreal information to believe it is truthful. However, connotatively, the advertisement serves a very different, and more effective purpose: as a message pertaining to the mass population's inabilities to critically analyze such seemingly pointless advertisements and see the messages that lie within them. On the surface, Truth's advertisement appears to be an anti-smoking campaign. It claims to have gotten its hands on an "actual internal document" proposing "solutions to the public's growing concerns over the dangers of secondhand smoke". The document has been enlarged to the size of a three- story building and is placed for public viewing in a downtown setting.

On the street in front of the document-made- billboard is another sign about five feet tall and twenty feet long which explains exactly what the document is and displays Truth's motto "This is what we know. Imagine what we don't". What we know is that this advertisement is ineffective on the denotative level. It does not speak out against smoking itself. It does not offer reasons to quit smoking.

It does not present fear- oriented facts such as those located on packages of cigarettes via Health Canada, under the Canadian Government's guidance. Instead, it reminds us of a well known fact: that industries have two very different images. A public image, that is presented through media mediums, and a private image, to which the public eye is uninvited. What we don't know, by looking at the advertisement on this level, is what the purpose of it is. We must analyze it, and all aspects of the advertising world, connotatively as well as denotatively to understand their true message. Everyday we are sold ideologies, lifestyles, facts and products through advertising.

We believe the glass of Minute Maid Orange Juice we drink provides us with exactly 150% of our daily recommended intake of vitamin C, simply because it is printed on the carton. We all know the perfect size is a six but that the ideal size is a one or two, due to advertising campaigns by such fashion industries as Versa chy, the Gap, and Gucci, and that women are only sexy when wearing lingerie, miniskirts and strappy, expensive heels. Like any other industry, Truth is trying to sell something to the public. Unlike other industries, however, who want you to believe the "facts" they present pertaining to their product, Truth is simply selling the idea of being skeptical about these "facts". They are telling us to question the information we receive from advertising, examine and challenge it before buying into it.

Truth is stressing the fact that we, the mass population, are quick to believe everything in print is true or real. They are emphasizing our gullibility with their unrealistic ad, assuming that since we are able to allow ourselves to believe everything the marketing world tells us, we must be able to believe that a "major tobacco company" actually keeps agendas involving possible "solutions to the public's growing concerns over the dangers of secondhand smoke" simply because there is the illusion of validity present as often occurs within advertisements. This illusion is incorporated discreetly through the use of the heading on the document stating the date, time, and subject. Also, the black ink in the top right hand corner suggests that the document had been received and hurriedly photocopied, perhaps before the company realized this vital piece of information was missing. This adds a reality to the advertisement and enables us to think inactively and continue believing the story portrayed to us on the surface of this advertisement.

This fable that after sixteen years of keeping this "actual internal document" a secret, it was leaked to a company whose sole purpose is to spread the truth about the tobacco industry and receives no money from external forces. While a romantic thought, the truth is right before your eyes and through the criticisms of the unrealistic nature of the advertisement the purpose of it is emphasized: criticism itself. The Truth is hoping you won't believe the validity of this "actual internal document" but that you will question it and seek the truth. There is a strong sense of irony in the fact that this advertisement is "exposing" tobacco companies that hide information such as this from the public, since advertising is about hiding the drawbacks of your product from the public and accentuating the benefits. This is not an attack on this particular "major tobacco company" or even the tobacco industry. It is an attack on the population's inability to read critically into the public stages that await us everyday on every corner in every street - or did you honestly believe the blown up document is placed in the middle of a city setting as purely coincidence?

With the purpose of the ad being a critique of our ability to view advertising and other public events or displays it is easy to justify the means of displaying the ad in a magazine called "Young and Modern". A magazine which targets the fourteen to sixteen year old crowd. A population who has not yet been educated to think critically of the public world around us. A group who has thus far been taught to believe everything in print, everything our superiors tell us, and to always believe the "truth". Is there any wonder that no colors (save one, orange) were used on the document, which represents truth, in an advertisement directed towards a subculture who is taught to see issues in only black and white terms? Is it odd that only the color orange was used; the color of bluntness and boldness which happens to be represented in a way all students can relate to: through the use of the highlighting effect?

Of course, students are not the only population who often ignore critical thinking practices and accept the face value of information in our world. This is emphasized with the many different age groups, as well as ethnic groups reading the document. Also, the size of the document alone makes a statement about the human population as a whole; we are oblivious to any issue that is not presented to us in an over - the - top spectacle. These presentations must be bold, overly dramatic and even shocking to receive adequate attention from us.

In a world where the only adjective for time is valuable, attention must be forced from the public. These spectacles distract us briefly from their reality and cause us to take notice. Is observing, though, the same as acknowledging what is being said? Is the popular Marxist view true: Is pop culture nothing more than an attractive distraction; one that encourages passiveness and discourages critical thinking? Are we all able to be molded, to believe we need certain objects or feelings in our lives, simply because we are told we do?

It soon becomes apparent that the size of the document also symbolizes that the problem aforementioned is bigger than all of us. However, this problem does not lie in the tobacco industry's means of advertising and ethics, but in our own lack of critical thinking procedures. Truth is telling us to be critical of not only tobacco companies, but all forms of media. To not stop there but continue to analyze all parts of our society, both denotatively and connotatively, to see the truth that always lies behind it; behind the extravagant curtains that are everyday being pulled over our eyes; behind the deception companies must use in their advertisements to attract, to inform, to encourage; behind to the truth. Essentially, Truth is selling truth, on you own terms and to the extent you wish to pursue it.

Bibliography

"Truth advertisement" YM: Young and Modern June 2003: 123.