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Needs of Reality || Wants of Desire

From dazzling new make-up lines to sleek new clothing styles, many magazines for young women present the glamour of being young and beautiful. Each page flaunts life as a pursuit of pleasure and happiness. However, reality suggests that life is not solely based on beauty and bliss. So how would an advertiser introduce an aspect of reality that conflicts with the beauty of life? Published in Lucky magazine, an advertisement supporting no smoking by the American Legacy Foundation uses the stark, black and white photo and farewell messages of a devastated, aging woman suffering from emphysema to connect with the audience and to alter the conception that young women may have of smoking.

Lucky magazine is targeted to young women between the ages of eighteen and twenty- five. It includes tips for fashion and make-up, and the highlights of clothes shopping, but also includes an ad about not smoking. This advertisement appears in a magazine for this age group because smoking under the age of eighteen is illegal and smoking over the age of twenty-five is too late to fix the damage done to the body caused by smoking. Rather than placing the advertisement in a magazine about problems in society, it is in a magazine about shopping.

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Then by reading the text on the left, the reader knows the cause of her pain. A letter is personal, handwritten, and allows the spontaneous flow of thoughts to be revealed. The audience uses all these tactics subconsciously to create their own opinion concerning the ad. These words are emphasized within the sentences to make an impact on the reader. The monochrome image and personal letters reveal the life of a woman and the eternal losses she will experience. This comfort allows the writer to present his/her deepest emotions. The large photo allows the reader to examine the curves of the face, especially the eyes clenched close.

Using these tactics to make strong connections with the reader, the advertiser changes the conception that young women may have of smoking. The advertiser uses the face of an aging woman to show the reader a possible view of their future. “Loved” is in past tense, therefore suggesting that she will not love in the near future. All together, the advertiser uses these tactics to emphasize the idea of getting help if one is addicted to smoking because the reader can become another victim and experience the same situation as the woman in the advertisement. Overall, it is crucial to remember and distinguish the thin line between the most important needs of reality like a healthy life and the most important “wants” of desire.

The public service advertiser presented a carefully planned advertisement to change the audience’s view from sympathy to fear by making a strong personal connection with readers. The fact that the text is in the format of personal letters already makes connections with the reader.

Approximate Word count = 1228
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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