Tokyo Example

Mild Seven Cigarette advertisement

Example

In this advertisement, made by Mild Seven, many good looking men in “cool” out fits are shown with their hair in shaped in a blue wave. Their hair is modeled after the logo on the cigarette box. The target audience for this advertisement is young Japanese men who want to be in the “it” crowd. It shows all cool, white men, associated with the cigarette packaging. The men in this ad are white and good looking, which is young Japanese mans ideal look. The advertisement is located on a tobacco vending machine, which a lot of people would walk by daily, so it is obviously targeted towards smokers who want to be cool. The main message in this advertisement is that using these cigarettes will make you look cool. It tells the target audience that this product is associated with cool, hip guys, so they should use it too.

The type of propaganda used is transfer. Transfer is when two images or symbols are shown together so the viewer links them in their mind. Mild Seven uses transfer, by showing pieces of the cigarette box in the men’s hair, making it so they are associated with it. The looks used by these men are respected by young Japanese men, so they are made to believe that this is what will make them look cool like these people.

This advertisement “spoke” to me because it made me think that a lot of men would think that this particular type of cigarettes is cool and in. I believe that many young men would be attracted this image and want to know why the “cool” men in the ad like this brand and that they are associated with the cigarettes so the cigarettes must be worth trying.

Analysis

If you are walking down the busy streets of Tokyo, trying to look cool and fit in when you are drawn to the bright colors and cool looking people. You automatically get the message that these people are cool because they use these cigarettes and you think you have to use them to be cool. It’s meant to capture the eye of a young Japanese man who wants to be in the “in” crowd. They target this audience by one using foreign men and two using the hip clothing to be associated with the men and the cigarettes. The propaganda used is transfer, because it shows to cool men linked to the cigarettes.

The whole story behind this product is that it is a smoking advertisement, and smoking is very harmful. I believe that this ad perceives this cigarette brand and to be cool because it is linked with the cool people, but smoking causes many diseases and can kill people. The ad doesn’t show the dangers of smoking, only that it will make you “cool”. This can be harmful to the target audience, because they don’t think about the effects of smoking, they only think about trying to have the latest trends and the hippest styles. It also makes it appear that every “cool” and foreign man smokes and is associated with the cigarette brand. Over all, this advertisement hides the dangers of smoking and the fact that smoking isn’t necessarily a cool thing to do.

The message that this advertisement shows is mostly negative. It not only promotes smoking, but it also sends out the message that the only way that you can be cool and a trend setter is if you buy these cigarettes and look like these people. It takes away cultural individuality, and makes Japanese society believe that they must be like these western people if they want to be cool.

Society can be effected in many ways if people believe this propaganda without questioning it. A positive effect is that the company will sell more of the product. This is positive because cigarettes are highly taxed, so the money from them could be used for something important or something that Tokyo needs. A negative effect is that it could raise the amount of people who smoke and cause more people to get diseases like emphysema and lung cancer. This would have a negative effect on society because it would be hard to a lot of people to pay for medical bills and a lot of people would die. It would also increase the air pollution in Tokyo if more people were influenced to buy these cigarettes because they think it will make them cool. It could also lead to younger people breaking laws by smoking under the age of 20. People may think that to be cool like the foreigners associated with the smoking ad, that they have to smoke that brand of cigarettes. This could lead to law breaking of other types, like under age alcohol consumption. This advertisement that uses transfer to associate the cool foreign men with the cigarette company also makes Japanese people want to be more like foreign men so it takes away from Japanese culture and Japanese ways. Elder Japanese people may disapprove of younger Japanese people wanting to be like Americans.

This advertisement surprised me because of the way it catches your eye show the blue wave on the mens head to show how it is associated with the cigarettes. I thought the graphics looked very cool and eye catching.

Overall I believe that this propaganda has negative effects on society because it promotes smoking in general, and takes away from Japanese culture.