Quit Victoria Advertisement Analysis

There are many advisors to tell people to stop smoking, but there’s one specific commercial that gets both smoking and non smoking parents involved. There has been countless anti smoking campaigns, some effective, while some are just racked up as jokes. In a Quit Victoria ad campaign, named “Separation,” a woman leaves her son in a crowded train station alone, assuming to be thought, to smoke a cigarette. The little boy’s face begins to look anxious, then the worry turns to tears. A voice over says, “If this is what your child looks like after losing you for a minute, imagine them losing you for a lifetime.” A sign then shows up stating to quit smoking. Watching the commercial myself made me think about the effects of smoking when you have …show more content…
According to the Advertising Standards Bureau, a series of comments and complaints were filed on the technique of the advertising with the young boy, one stating, “It is disgraceful that these people would put this boy through this real anxiety to film an advertisement. This was not acting it was real. A claim that is backed up by the quit campaign themselves.” It is very possible that the way the advertisement was strategized was to get the target audience, smoking parents, to view the severity of smoking and leave their children behind. The parents who do smoke could feel the effects and make changes, yet it’s seems the most bothered by this commercial were non smoking parents with …show more content…
Advertisements sometimes have deeper meanings when better left interpreted by the viewers, they are changed more than those that just come straight out with a message. Countless anti tobacco advertisements have been released on television from around the 1960s and for them still to be used means that maybe the past ones weren’t so great. There are greater depths, techniques, and strategies that need to be met to advertise messages such as the fight against tobacco as time goes on. In an online article published on Daily News, “Australian Anti-smoking commercial draws howls as boy sobs for mommy, ” authored by Rich Schapiro and Bill Hutchinson states, "In order to motivate someone to quit, you have to provoke a strong emotional response," said Jenna Mandel-Ricci, director of special projects for the city Department of Health. "If we run ads that people don't remember or that don't affect people, then people won't call for help." That’s exactly what this company did, if there’s ever a want for someone to change, make them care, make them speak and bring about