Deceptive Advertising

The picture above is a 1930s advertisement for "Luckies", a cigarette brand. The advertisement states that 20,679 doctors say that "Luckies"cigarettes, are less irritating than other cigarette brands. Around this time period, people were not aware of the dangers involved with smoking cigarettes, resulting in countless advertisements about them. This advertisement can be considered deceptive, because of it referring to doctors. Since the advertisement involves doctors saying something positive about the brand, consumers will be more likely to trust this advertisement, due to doctors being considered trustworthy and dependable. The ethos of this advertisement is how it refers to doctors. Since people trust doctors with their health and sometimes life, they can also trust them with their cigarette brand. The pathos is the way the advertisement is depicted. The ad shows a doctor holding a pack of "Luckies" cigarettes with a smiling face. This shows happiness and a kind environment, making the reader feel more comfortable and more persuaded by the ad. The logos is the  ad saying that "Luckies" cigarettes are less irritating than other brands. Logically a smoker would want to switch to a brand that would cause him less discomfort. The subject of the ad is "Luckies" cigarettes and how it is favorable over other brands. The audience is the large amount of smokers in the United States at the time the ad was published. The purpose is to get more people to buy and smoke "Luckies" cigarettes. The tone is friendly educated, and also confident. The occasion is not apparent, but all other points are strongly shown. The ad is effective, but was not the only one of its kind. Many other cigarette companies had advertisements that refer to doctors saying one brand is better than the other, resulting in competition and more sales. After the dangers of smoking were found, advertisements like these would be very rare to find.