Assignment task:
Read the Case Study: Anti-Smoking Advertising - Can You Be Scared into Quitting? From Chapter 6. After reading the case study, answer the following discussion questions:
1: What is another health, political, or philanthropic cause that could benefit from an advertising campaign? Create two taglines that could be used: one for people who are prevention-focused and another for those who are promotion-focused. Need Online Tutoring?
2: Health warnings have appeared on cigarette packages for almost 50 years. Discuss how habituation, or a decline in responsiveness due to repeated exposure (see Chapter 4), maybe a factor affecting their effectiveness. In 134 countries, graphic images related to smoking's effects must also be shown on the packages. Why or why not might this help smokers decide to quit?
3: How can a marketer determine what kinds of appeals will be the most persuasive in making the case for a product or cause? Design a simple experiment using the cause you chose for question CS 6.1.
Instructions: Write a 2-3 APA formatted paper submitted as a Word document in GAP. Cite three (3) peer-reviewed articles not including your textbook.
Case Study (Chapter 6)
Anti-Smoking Advertising-Can You Be Scared into Quitting?
Most advertising is focused on encouraging consumers to buy products or services. But advertising can also be used to discourage the use of products considered to be harmful. One of the best examples of this is the use of advertising focused on discouraging smoking. Over many years, different types of ads have been used-informational, funny, and some designed to be very shocking-but all focused on convincing smokers to kick the habit or, better, never to start it.
Smoking is America's leading preventable cause of death and illness, responsible for more than 480,000 deaths each year-about 1,300 deaths per day. Each year in the United States, more people die from smoking than from murder, suicide, AIDS, drugs, alcohol, and car crashes-combined. One would think that compelling statistics like these would scare anyone away from taking a single puff on a cigarette. However, the many factors involved in the decision to start and to continue to smoke create the need for persuasive messaging involving more than just facts.
A form of this messaging began with the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 that mandated warnings be placed on each pack of cigarettes stating in clear terms: "Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health." Early anti-smoking ad campaigns began appearing around this time and were largely executed as public service announcements or free
TV airtime mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. The ads focused on explaining the dangers of smoking and making it seem less socially acceptable to smoke. This advertising had some effectiveness but had to compete for time on the air with other good causes, such as preventing forest fires.
More recently, private anti-smoking groups began much more aggressive advertising. The Truth campaign, which is focused on teens, went nationwide in 2000. Recognizing that kids smoked because they wanted to rebel, they used that image to challenge young smokers with a question: "Are you really rebelling by giving all of your money to these big corporations run by old white guys?"
The Centers for Disease Control decided on a different strategy, sponsoring ads that featured smokers who were experiencing the results of their habit. One shows a woman who must speak with an artificial device because her voice box has been removed; she explains that she misses singing lullabies to her grandson. Others feature people who have lost heir teeth, a woman who had a premature baby, and a man with a hole in his throat-all results of smoking.
Do these fear appeals work? The research says yes-at least for some. These types of appeals appear to be most effective with "prevention-focused" people who are concerned with possible negative outcomes. However, one experiment found that scary images had the opposite effect on some adolescents, making them more at risk for future smoking. It may be that they responded in a defensive manner that caused them to downplay the health risks portrayed in the graphic photographs.
In contrast to prevention-focused people, those who are "promotion-focused" are concerned with aspirations and achievements. A PSA released by Ireland's government health service (and later used in New York) may be more effective for this personality type. In this ad, people lip-synced to Gloria Gaynor's anthem "I Will Survive," as they decided to quit cigarettes. A campaign in Florida focused on the positives of quitting with the tagline, "Quit smoking and you quit all the crap that goes with it. You Quit. You Win." Angela Rodriguez, VP of strategic planning and insights at Alma, who produced the ads said, "We . . . learned that those same scare tactic approaches don't always connect, so we shifted our strategy to a more empathetic one . . . The result is [a] very emotive creative that is respectful of the smokers we are trying to reach."
All of these approaches are having an effect, with the number of smokers 18 years or older in the United States at 16 percent in 2021, compared to 45 percent in 1954. Advertising cannot take all the credit; bans on smoking in public spaces, taxes on cigarettes, and extensive education and quit-smoking programs have all contributed. But the CDC credits ad campaigns with making a difference, including creating a spike in calls to its 1-800-QUIT-NOW hotline.
Whether selling cars or encouraging smokers to quit, advertisers have several persuasive approaches available for use. Considering the many factors involved in the decision to start or quit smoking, multiple ad approaches are needed to persuade someone to make a change. Just as with the marketing of products and services, our target markets are not always as homogeneous as they might appear, so different appeals work with different sub-segments. Choosing the right ones just may help someone avoid an early death due to cancer or heart disease.