1. THE FINE ART OF PERSUASION Advertising

2. OH, REALLY? Advertising is pure persuasion! No matter what the ad is sellingpoliticians, food, toiletries, any productthe purpose is to persuade the readers/viewers to vote, purchase a certain product, or change their minds about a topic. 3. PROBLEMS! The problem with ads is that they are biased and do not alwaysrepresent the facts. Does one toothpaste really work better than another? Do lose weight quickly products work? Could they even be unhealthy? Is Politician A more honest and smarter than Politician B? Another problem is that ads can reinforce negative stereotypes:the characters in ads are stock and flat, meaning that because of brevity (and other factors), they lack personality. Advertisers use stereotypical characters so that the audience can identify with them, but these characteristics are not always accurate. 4. EVOLUTION? The basic selling premise of ads has not changed, and ads stilluse stock characters, but ads have changed. Because the success of an advertising campaign depends onhow well the audience buys into the concept, ads reflect and are strongly influenced by the cultural aspects of an eraor even what is popular in a given year. We can take a trip back in time to prove this hypothesis! 5. These ads demonstrate a logical fallacy: just because an expert says so does not make it so!These ads also beg the question of reliability: who were the 20,679 doctors? How did the advertisers get this info? Regardless, ANY doctor who would advocate smoking today would get drummed out of the AMA. 6. Hmmm, I wonder what type of criteria the medical specialists were using? What would make Chesterfields better or less harmful than other cigarettes?Notice, there is no mention of cancer, emphysema, or other serious health problems related to smoking. 7. Well, little girl, you wont live to be 100 if you follow your doctors example? This ad uses pathos (emotion) to appeal to the audience: the little girl and her mother are intended to make the audience feel emotionally reassured that smoking is healthy. The doctor also makes smoking respectable. Can you spot logical fallacies? 8. Dentists got in on the act, as well. 9. Even poor old Santa was dragged into the arena. 10. IGNORANCE We might be able to say, Well, back in the old days, no onerealized how bad smoking was for your health, but we must ask how much clout cigarette companies had and what the downplayed to the public. Until 1969, cigarette ads proliferated on TV, but even magazineand other types of advertising could no longer claim that smoking was healthy. This fact was still downplayed in ads, and the smoking companies turned to other tactics to draw in smokers especially new smokers. 11. Ignorance cannot be used as an excuse for the Joe Camel ads; cartoon characters are supposed to impress whom? The target audience was not mature, responsible adults! 12. SEXISM Smoking ads still proliferate in printed media, usually depictinggood-looking people having a great time while puffing away. After the doctor recommendations where no longer a viable selling point, associating cigarettes with a glamorous lifestyle came to the forefront. The benefits of smoking were not the only fallacies fed to theAmerican public. As mentioned earlier, stock characters and stereotypes abounded (and still abound) in both printed and visual media. In the good ol days, women were depicted as helpless, controlledby men, and in other negative stereotypes. I looked for ads portraying negative stereotypes of men, butcouldnt find any! I am sure that they existif you find some, let me know. 13. This ad combined the coolness of smoking and sexism, depicting women as gullible creatures who would blindly follow a cool guy anywhere IF he only blew smoke in her face. Somehow, I dont believe this was an effective pick-up move! 14. Women needed to smoke before dealing with their children! Prior to the 1940s, women who smoked were scandalous, but an ad such as this made smoking something that even mothers could, and were encouraged, to do. Does not feeling oversmoked include lung cancer? 15. Women couldnt open ketchupbottles by themselves. 16. Got a wife who tampers with your coffee? Then treat her like a child. 17. This ad is most likely intended to be light-hearted, as well, but even the attire of the woman is indicative of her status and place in the world. Dont all women thrive of cooking, cleaning, and dusting? 18. Draw your own conclusions! 19. And where did the loosewomen get those diseases? 20. OTHER HEALTH ISSUES All babies need caffeine orsugar laced drinks! 21. Not only was Coca-Colanamed for its most important ingredient, but cocaine was an over-the-counter palliative until 1914. 22. INTO THE NEW AGE Advertisers must consistentlyfind new ways to sell products, but so many use the same tactics that when we see something truly fresh and original, we remember it! 23. And cute still sells. (Push the play button!) 24. FINIS I have cautioned you to seek reliable sources! While you might notuse an ad as a source to back up an argument, they nevertheless show how popular ideas, theories, and societal norms change. In addition, they also demonstrate how new discoveries change what we know about certain issues, i.e. the dangers of smoking. In addition, commercials are rife with bias, inaccuracies, logicalfallacies, and stereotypes: so are printed and other media sources! It behooves you, the researcher, to ferret out those aspects and evaluate their accuracy and their timeliness. If you do not, a reader that is uneducated about the topic might believe the inaccuracies, but an analytical and/or educated reader will notdo not risk alienating your readers with drivel or making them perceive YOU as illinformed; if this happens, your points/arguments are moot.