This 1962 advertisement promotes the Marlboro brand cigarettes, which now have a filter. However at the time, filtered cigarettes were new to people and therefore considered feminine. This advert is targeted at a narrower and sceptical audience of men, since the image suggests that “real” men also smoke filtered Marlboro cigarettes. To convey successfully its messages, the advert has several visual elements as well as persuasive diction and structure to enhance the overall quality of the advert and get the message across more effectively.
The most obvious visual element in the advertisement is the contrast between colours. The brand image and name are highlighted in red colour to attract the attention of potential customers. This is the primary objective of the advertisement. The colour red is chosen to make the reader alert of the brand name and image if the advertisement is in a highway for instance. The second objective or message is to promote the change to filtered cigarettes from unfiltered ones, hence the letters and image of a football player in black and white colours.
A football player is used to make men see that smoking a filtered cigarette is not feminine at all. The first paragraph of the advertisement uses an opened question to make the reader think why does he not “… settle back an have a full-flavoured smoke? ” This makes the reader want to buy a pack of cigarettes and enjoy them as Paul Hornung is doing so in the image below. Paul, the “… Player of the Year… “in the NFL is portrayed as a manly figure and makes readers certain that also men can smoke filtered cigarettes.
In the image Paul is smoking one of the new cigarettes with a filter and the expression on his face infers that he is enjoying it, perhaps after a heavy session of training, he is relaxing with a Marlboro cigarette, with the tranquillity on his mind that his performance on the field will not be affected by smoking because now the cigarettes have a filter. The loyalty towards a brand of cigarettes is also encouraged in the advert since Paul is said to be “… a Marlboro man all the way.
” This will make readers certain that they can trust the Marlboro brand and hence incite them to always buy Marlboro cigarettes as Paul Hornung. Just as the question at the top says, “Why don’t you settle back… ” Paul is sitting back and enjoying a “… full-flavoured cigarette” This makes the reader envious of Paul in the image and makes them want to buy a cigarette on the way back home from work and sit back in their favourite chair and smoke one of these cigarettes. The image of Paul works as a “serving suggestion”. It tells the reader how cigarettes should be smoked.
