SPE 370: Blog 5

In 2009, it was estimated that there were more than 43 million adults who smoked cigarettes in the United States. This advertisements purpose is to bring attention to the danger of smoking cigarettes and encourage people to take action and quit. This advertisement uses many design elements and other principles that allow the image to effectively convey the message.

            What first drew my attention to this image was the women lying helplessly on the bed. One can judge from the anchoring that she has lung cancer and it was caused by smoking cigarettes. They add a personal quote in to convey the sorrow the mom has for what pain she is going to put her daughter through. The size of the text varies which is done to point out that this image is representing lung cancer. It is also a plain font, rather than a fun or creative one to show the seriousness of it. This allows the viewer to see that smoking has an effect on not only their life, but others.

            The advertisement also uses the element of color to perceive the mood of the image. The image is in black and white which shows a depressing, and gloomy atmosphere. It also is completely black where the words are on the right hand side so that the focus is on just the text. The only two colors used in this image are at the top where it says warning and the quote from the women who passed is in yellow. They are bright colors which capture the eye of the viewer to read what is said. By viewing the women, colors used  and reading the texts that’s anchored to it, one can have visual closure by portraying this is what the women went through because of smoking.

            Along with design elements, metonymy is used in this advertisement. Metonymy is the basic strategy to convey something abstract and show it. In this case, the image is showing a women dying. This is clear because of the context of it. She is lying in a bed with no hair, which people commonly associate with cancer. She looks almost as if there is no life left inside of her. Although there is no way to show someone dying, metonymy uses a symbol to portray it.

            Overall, this advertisement is able to portray the danger that cigarette smoking can impose on not only an individual but the effects it has on other individuals. It uses color, anchoring, text, and closure which enable viewers to capture the point of it.