Shards O' Glass Freeze Pops

When I first saw this commercial, I have to admit it grabbed my attention. I must have caught parts of it several times and was curious who was behind it. I looked it up on YouTube and realized it was a product of Truth, the anti-smoking group with all the crazy commercials. I visited their site and their "About Us" section is really quite interesting. They state that their "...philosophy isn't anti-smoker or pro-smoker...it's about an industry manipulating its products, facts and advertising to secure replacements for the 1200 customers they "lose" every day." (To read the rest click here). I thought both this commercial and what it stands for were very pertinent to this week's discussion on advertising.

I felt that this commercial specifically spoke to the section in Chapter 13 regarding social marketing. According to the text, media literacy can be a useful tool in shaping messages that influence the attitudes and behaviors of individuals; the rationale behind social marketing is that the tools of media literacy can be used to promote pro-social behaviors (Silverblatt 289).

By centering the "advertisement" around a completely ridiculous and obviously deadly product, Truth demonstrates that the Tobacco Company does the same thing with cigarette marketing. The language used is very similar to the warnings heard in cigarette advertisements, yet the marketing of deadly products is tolerated by many in our society. However, new regulations were very recently passed on the marketing of tobacco products. Do you think that social marketing campaigns such as those by Truth have been instrumental in the increase in regulation of tobacco marketing? If so, will this precedent influence an increase in future social marketing campaigns?