Analyzing a Quit Smoking Ad: The Power of Guilt Appeal in Ads

This essay provides an analysis of a quit smoking advertisement that utilizes guilt appeal to evoke emotions and persuade viewers. The advertisement features a child who is lost in a crowded place, drawing a parallel to the potential loss a child would experience if their parent were to die from s...Read More

Running Head: GUILT APPEAL ADVERTISEMENT
Guilt Appeal Advertisement
Quit Smoking Commercial

GUILT APPEAL ADVERTISEMENT
Ad Description
Figure 1: Quit Smoking Commercial from YouTube
Source – (bo0fhead, 2008)
The advertisement emotionally motivates populaces by using pathos; quit smoking message
was effectively demonstrated using the emotions of a child who was lost in a crowded place
(Downing & Mujic, 2016). This is an effective guilt appeal advertisement which provokes
people by promoting the message that, ‘if your child feels lost and devastated just by losing
you for a minute imagine when they lose you for life.’

GUILT APPEAL ADVERTISEMENT
Q1 In what way the advertisement evoke guilt? Recognize cues & explain.
The advertisement effectively evokes guilt among smokers by pointing out the emotions of a
kid who lost his mother in a crowded place. The advertisement stimulated the audience to feel
the pain of the kid who lost his mother only for a minute and linked the situation with the
emotion when the kid loses his smoking parents for life.
The cues in the advertisements are:
 Kid’s emotion when he loses his mother
 The message that says, ‘if this is how your child feels after losing you for a minute, imagine
when they lose you for life.’
These cues would influence the decision of a smoker whether he would smoke again or not
(Meulenaer, et. al., 2015).
Q2. The effectiveness of this ad
There are several factors that evaluate the effectiveness of an advertisement; such factors
embrace exposure, attention, comprehension, attitude change and action. The objective of an
advertisement is always to attain maximum exposure, attention and drive change within
people.
The advertisement used in this paper effectively conveys ‘no smoking’ message to the public
and it also portrays the adverse influences of smoking in individual’s lives. Pathos has been
effectively used in the advertisement to evoke the emotions among people. The kid’s reaction
(action) is also one of the leading factors contributing to the effectiveness of this ad.
Individuals attitude towards smoking has been influenced by the advertisement which is one
of the prime factors that would elevate the effectiveness of this ad. The advertisement also
envelops other factors such as exposure and attention in the target market; surveys and other
tests can be effectively conducted to measure the influence of ad in the target market. These
factors demonstrate that the advertisement is effective enough to gain attention and influence
smokers effectively (Suttle, 2019).

GUILT APPEAL ADVERTISEMENT
Q3. How could the advertisement be improved?
Although the advertisement successfully evoked the smokers by demonstrating the emotions
of a lost child, there are several factors which the advertisement is lacking. By introducing
those factors the advertisement could be improved.
The advertisement could have included some additional details about smoking and deaths that
are being caused every year. Facts and figures about the deaths caused by smoking could
have been included just before the ending; this would increase the seriousness of adverse
impacts caused due to smoking. The message provided in the video is short and dynamic; it
does not require any additional improvements.

GUILT APPEAL ADVERTISEMENT
References
bo0fhead (2008) Quit Smoking Commercial. Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAxUpeVhCg [Accessed 06 April 2019]
Meulenaer, S., Dens, N. and Pelsmacker, P. (2015) Which cues cause consumers to perceive
brands as more global? A conjoint analysis. International Marketing Review. 32(6), pp. 606-
626.
Suttle, R. (2019) Definition of Advertising Effectiveness. Available from:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-advertising-effectiveness-23260.html [Accessed
06 April 2019]
Downing, L. H. and Mujic, B. K. (2016) Metaphor and persuasion in commercial
advertising. London: Routledge