Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis in Vintage Advertisement
Michael Dundon
ENGL/112
July 11th, 2013
Diana Schmelzer
“I’m sending Chesterfields to all my friends. That’s the merriest Christmas any smoker can have- Chesterfield mildness plus no unpleasant after-taste – Ronald Reagan” (Cook, 2010). This quote from Ronald Reagan was in an ad from Chesterfield Cigarettes dating back to the 1950’s. Many techniques are used to entice the target audience to purchase their products. Chesterfield uses an actor to promote their cigarettes during the Christmas season to play on the emotions of cigarette smokers. This may have been more successful at the time of the advertisement than it would be today mainly due to the health implications found through research.
This vintage ad uses Ronald Reagan as its spokesperson to provide credibility. In the ad they mention that Ronald Reagan is starring in a movie called “Hong Kong”. By having a movie star who was popular and thought of as “good looking” they hoped to sell more cigarettes. Cigarettes were not thought of as unhealthy so an actor would have no issue with representing them in ads. Imagine if actors were used in cigarette ads today? They would be committing career suicide; this type of hucksterism is not as widely accepted as it was 50 years ago.
Furthermore, the company tries to create an easy way to purchase that perfect gift for the smoker in your life by using the tagline “Buy the Beautiful Christmas Card Carton”. In reality it is not such a farfetched idea to buy a smoker a decorative carton of cigarettes with a gift card right on the packaging. It is very attractive to the last minute shopper or the gag gift giving. This type of reasoning might have made sales increase but the data to support that was not found.
The targeted advertising for the Christmas holiday holds a lot of emotion behind it. Christmas was and still is a very big holiday in the United States. Christmas is the season to be jolly and encourages giving
Michael Dundon
ENGL/112
July 11th, 2013
Diana Schmelzer
“I’m sending Chesterfields to all my friends. That’s the merriest Christmas any smoker can have- Chesterfield mildness plus no unpleasant after-taste – Ronald Reagan” (Cook, 2010). This quote from Ronald Reagan was in an ad from Chesterfield Cigarettes dating back to the 1950’s. Many techniques are used to entice the target audience to purchase their products. Chesterfield uses an actor to promote their cigarettes during the Christmas season to play on the emotions of cigarette smokers. This may have been more successful at the time of the advertisement than it would be today mainly due to the health implications found through research.
This vintage ad uses Ronald Reagan as its spokesperson to provide credibility. In the ad they mention that Ronald Reagan is starring in a movie called “Hong Kong”. By having a movie star who was popular and thought of as “good looking” they hoped to sell more cigarettes. Cigarettes were not thought of as unhealthy so an actor would have no issue with representing them in ads. Imagine if actors were used in cigarette ads today? They would be committing career suicide; this type of hucksterism is not as widely accepted as it was 50 years ago.
Furthermore, the company tries to create an easy way to purchase that perfect gift for the smoker in your life by using the tagline “Buy the Beautiful Christmas Card Carton”. In reality it is not such a farfetched idea to buy a smoker a decorative carton of cigarettes with a gift card right on the packaging. It is very attractive to the last minute shopper or the gag gift giving. This type of reasoning might have made sales increase but the data to support that was not found.
The targeted advertising for the Christmas holiday holds a lot of emotion behind it. Christmas was and still is a very big holiday in the United States. Christmas is the season to be jolly and encourages giving