A Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Real Cost'

The majority of the commercials we see these days are about companies advertising their products with the intention of showing the audience how they are better than the competition and ultimately convincing them of buying their product. On the other hand, some organizations use this method of communication to send a powerful message to the audience about issues concerning society. In this case, the United States Food and Drug Administration produced a commercial to send a message about how powerful the addiction for cigarettes is. The commercial is called “Bully” and is one of the many similar commercials of “The Real Cost” campaign which purpose is to reduce the number of teenagers who smoke by showing them the real costs of smoking. The opening …show more content…
Most of these teenagers do not start smoking because they want to but instead because they have to. I believe that the main reason why they smoke is because they want to appear cool in the society. For many years, we have lived in a society marked by stereotypes in which teenagers want to fit in even if they have to do things they don’t enjoy and can be dangerous for them. In my opinion, the majority of the teenagers who smoke began doing this because they were influenced by friends or by looking at people that have an impact in society doing it. In their minds, they believe that if they don’t smoke, they are not going to be accepted by the rest of the society or in the group they want to fit in. Another reason why teenagers smoke is because they are going through rough times whether it is at school or at home and smoking gives them the illusion of control and peace. They do this without thinking about the consequences of smoking and think that they will easily be able to stop smoking in a couple of months. But in reality, they become addicted to cigarettes before they even realize it and it requires a lot of commitment to stop