Introduction
The focus of tobacco businesses has frequently been on aggressive marketing campaigns meant to advance goods against which there is solid scientific resistance. The RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company’s advertising highlighted the admirable and revered status that doctors had attained in American culture. Smoking-related medical experts refuted the notion that smoking has terrible health effects. It is clear that the corporation built its advertising strategy around the idea that because physicians represented a respectable profession, they deserved to be trusted. Doctors were praised for being people who valued their professional reputation and the caliber of their care. It can be presumed the Camel advertisement was effective due to the strong appeal to public by using doctors, who are embodiments of health in peoples’ minds, as examples of smokers in their promotion.
Summary
Marketing campaigns are an effective means through which companies can promote their products to potential consumers. The advertisement by the RJ Reynolds Cigarette Company features a doctor in a white coat holding a cigarette. The advertisers use large and bold letters, some of which are colored red, to attract the audience’s attention. Three other physicians are included in the poster and each of them makes a statement in support of the Camel brand of cigarettes. They make specific claims regarding the product’s mildness and superiority in a bid to persuade consumers to make purchases and try them out for thirty days. The advertisement appeals to people’s emotions, logical minds, and authority in a bid to promote the Camel brand.
Analysis
The advertisement from the Camel cigarette company is premised on the claim that there is a direct correlation between smoking and good health. The company’s message was in contravention of emerging scientific knowledge which associated smoking with an increasing number of illnesses (Stanford University). The advertiser’s main objective was to sell their product to consumers who were gradually paying attention to health-related discoveries in the scientific community. The aforementioned facts notwithstanding, the RJ Reynolds Company engaged in an advertising campaign that used doctors as the main means of communicating the superiority of Camel cigarettes in the highly competitive market (Stanford University). The image used is that of an idealized professional who was considered to be a wise and caring individual.
The depiction of the doctor holding a cigarette in his office is intended to persuade the audience that the brand has been certified as healthy. The use of varied text sizes and colors is intended to highlight the important aspects of the overall message. For instance, the words “More,” “Doctors,” and “Smoke” begin with capital letters, and “Camels” is presented in red and all caps to draw the reader’s attention to the words (Stanford University). The result is the suggestion of an association between the brand and healthcare practitioners. It is worth noting that the language used in advertising adopts a specific form of diction. For instance, adjectives are used to add desirability and prestige, which are intended to enhance the consumer’s approval (Mahmood and Abdullah 99). The use of the word “more” is aimed at achieving the aforementioned goals.
The depiction of a woman holding a cigarette and reference to a “T-Zone” is intended to highlight the idea that the brand of cigarettes has a soothing effect on the throat in addition to providing consumers with an exquisite taste (Stanford University). The objective is to lure readers into believing that the product possesses superior qualities that make it extremely desirable.
There are specific elements that advertisers employ in the quest to increase their product’s reach. The first is the application of ethos or authority by claiming that most doctors in the United States prefer the brand. The creators leverage the population’s trust in doctors as professionals tasked with the promotion and maintenance of health, by associating their product with the profession. It is worth noting that medical advances had captured the public’s imagination.
Therefore, creating a like the pioneers of scientific discovery and the Camel brand of cigarettes made their product more appealing. The RJ Tobacco Company goes a step further by transferring authority to the consumer. According to the Stanford University research examples, the advertisement suggests a “thirty-day test” that will prove that the product is the mildest and best-tasting product in the market (n.d., image 22). The consumers are urged to judge for themselves, given that they have the authority and ability to identify quality items.
The advertisement makes a deliberate attempt to appeal emotionally to potential cigarette consumers in the United States. The pathos emanates from the depiction of a doctor smiling causally as he sits behind his desk, clad in a white coat. In addition, all the other individuals depicted in the advertisement appear happy with their choice of cigarette. Consumers were more likely to take a doctor’s advice because they believed that health practitioners had a patient’s best interests at heart. The sight of a happy doctor holding a cigarette while at work appeals to the average consumer who views the professionals as protectors of human health.
In retrospect, the advertisement is a stark reminder of the cultural authority doctors wielded in the United States for most of the 20th Century. In recognition of this fact, tobacco companies created marketing strategies that were intended to highlight the idea that their products had competitive health advantages. References to soothing sensations in the throat and mouth were designed to reinforce the aforementioned objective. The organizations recruited physicians to help bolster the message and emphasize their products’ benefits in the face of overwhelming scientific objections.
The argument that Camels are a logical choice is made by associating the product with physicians. The logos are based on the assertion that health professionals, who were revered as the main source of good health advice, recommend and even advocate for the consumption of Camels over other brands of cigarettes. According to the images used by the Stanford University for research, the advertiser references “repeated national surveys,” which claim that their product is the preferred choice for doctors (n.d., images 33,39). The advertisers are acutely aware of increasing public concern over the potential health impacts of cigarette consumption
Opinion
The advertising campaign by the R.J. Reynold’s Company was distasteful for a variety of reasons. For instance, it is difficult to ascertain the authenticity of the surveys that were conducted to determine the doctors’ preferred choice of cigarette. The referenced data is suspect in view of the fact that the mid-20th Century was characterized by an explosion of scientific discoveries in health that would have dissuaded practitioners from encouraging smoking. According to the Stanford University, the identification of the correlation between cigarette smoke and a variety of illnesses was a well-established idea at the time (n.d.). Despite the fact that the use of nicotine products was commonplace, there was rising public apprehension regarding the ill effects of cigarette smoke.
The fear of losing a significant size of the market prompted cigarette companies to use physicians, who were evocative and reassuring public figures capable of boosting sales and quelling the public’s apprehension towards nicotine products. The advertisement would be frowned upon in contemporary society given the weight of evidence that demonstrates the deleterious effects of smoking on human health. It is unethical to promote a product that has been linked to an unprecedented degree of morbidity and mortality.
Conclusion
Effective methods for promoting particular products and services to consumers are marketing tactics. The RJ Reynolds Cigarette firm’s commercial uses a number of strategies to market the Camel brand. By linking the product with doctors, it makes a conscious effort to appeal emotionally to potential cigarette users while advancing the idea that Camels are a sensible decision. Smoking medical experts were featured to deter the public from thinking that smoking was linked to dire health repercussions. The ad was based on the idea that people trusted physicians since they were members of a noble profession.
The advertisements for Camel cigarettes are predicated on the assertion that doctors, who are associated with health, smoke Camel cigarettes, which is endangering the lives of the customers. Given that second-hand smoke can potentially have disastrous health effects, society now actively discourages smoking from safeguarding the health of the general populace. The commercial serves as an example of the necessity of responsibility and regulation. Claims made by businesses to increase the sales of items that might have negative impacts must be held accountable. By asserting that the majority of doctors in the nation favor the brand, the advertisers also use ethos. The Reynolds Tobacco Company deliberately uses images of licensed medical professionals to illustrate how excellent their cigarettes are for the consumer’s health..
Works Cited
Mahmood, Faihan Adnan, and Subhi Ahmed Abdullah. “Pragmatic Analysis of Advertising Language and Humanitarian Research.” American Journal of Social and Humanitarian Research, vol. 2, no. 7, 2021, pp. 96–107. Web.
Stanford University. “More Doctors Smoke Camels than any other Brand!” Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising, 2022. Web.