One of the main problems that this advertisement has is a bad layout. Normally, a designer of an advertisement would be interested in drawing the reader’s eye down a specific portion of the page to a place where the main message along with the logo or a picture of the product is prominently displayed. In this ad, however, the first text that you see is a drawn “sign” which is supposed to look like wood with the message “Natural Tastes Better”. The entire advertisement seems to be meant to symbolize an organic field so the sign is meant to look like one that you would see posted outside that field. Next your vision is drawn down to another sign which could be stapled to a fence post with the message “Organic Field Do Not Spray”. Surrounding these pseudo-signs are four flowers. Three of these flowers are sunflowers and on two of these are pictures; more symbols detailing the message that the company wants to send. One is a bee, possibly to remind the audience of the message in the fine print in the center of the page telling them that sunflowers are grown with the organic tobacco crops so that beneficial insects are drawn to the field to protect the crops. This is not how crops are normally grown and the bees would pollinate the tobacco flower without the sunflowers presence. The other picture on the smallest flower is the recycle icon. We have all seen it and know what it stands for, but this has no written connection to the ad. It seems to be there to promote company image. The fourth “flower” is still a sunflower, but superimposed over the top of it are dried tobacco leaves in the shape of a flower with the silhouette of a smoking Native American man in a headdress which is the company’s emblem in the center of the “flower”. That is where the reader’s focus is centered. Keeping this in mind, the flower is not naturally found in nature and is not organic at all, but it is a symbol and it makes the tobacco seem that much more friendly and inviting. The colors are all muted organic colors from nature; greens, browns, and yellows. On the right side of the page is a red box of American Spirit cigarettes. It should be the final message that is given in the ad if the company wanted to sell the product, but the colors and the layout just do not draw the focus to that box. Also on the page are a variety of warnings such as, “No additives in our tobacco does not mean a safer cigarette” and the every popular, “Surgeon General’s Warning: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide”. All this together makes a very busy page that is not simple or direct. It does a better job at confusing possible interest in the product because the person reading the advertisement has no idea what is actually being promoted in this picture. What they do promote, however, is that they are a socially responsible company.
An important fact to consider when analyzing this ad is the reader or intended audience. The magazine that this advertisement rests in is Mother Jones, a politically charged environmentally concerned collection of articles that tend to lean toward a more liberal point of view. The person who this magazine is named for, “Mary Harris ‘Mother’ Jones was a feisty labor activist who died in 1930. She became an activist after losing her family to a yellow fever epidemic and her sewing business to the great Chicago fire. Known as the "miners' angel," she worked extensively on behalf of coal miners, but was also a staunch and effective opponent of child labor.” (motherjones.com faqs). She was a political activist, which is what the magazine claims to be as well, using her as their ultimate example. Every ad in the magazine has some reference to taking care of the earth, including the ad for natural cigarettes that is being analyzed. Being politically minded means taking care of the earth and those around us according to the editors and writers of Mother Jones magazine. The recycle symbol would not make as much sense in another context because another audience might not believe that recycling is as important as the readers of Mother Jones, but it was placed there purposely in order for the company to appear more earth-conscious to the readers of this magazine. The recycle symbol has absolutely nothing to do with this ad or the sale of these cigarettes, but it could be a selling point within the parameters of the specific audience.
The author of this ad, being the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, actually has many disclaimers on their webpage showing them to be a socially responsible company, the ethos of this ad, and minimizing the fact that they are trying to sell a product that is potentially fatal if used. On the initial page they ask for the viewer’s birthdate and ask whether they are a smoker or not. If the person trying to view the website checks the non-smoker box, a disclaimer pops up telling the intended viewer “if you are not a smoker, please don’t start. We do not even encourage smokers to smoke more”(www.nascigs.com). The settings on the webpage will not allow non-smokers into the site. Once on the actual webpage, the same disclaimers that are on the magazine ad are right at the top of the page. There is a place to click if you want to quit smoking that has dozens of website links to help people quit smoking. They also emphasize yet again that smoking is not healthy no matter what type of cigarette you smoke. This adds to the personality that the company wants people to believe that they have, irrelevant to what they are selling.
American Spirit Cigarettes have made a very large appeal to logos with the advertisement and the web site. Just the “Natural Tastes Better” sign on the top of the page alone has a message appealing to logic. The use of words and pictures of flowers rather than pictures of people make a much stronger appeal to logic than emotion. There will not be a huge emotional response while looking at this advertisement because there was no intentional attempt to strike the emotions of the reader. Most other cigarette advertisements picture one or more people having a great time doing something fun, but smoking is now equated with unhealthy lifestyle and carcinogenic possibility, the advertising world has slowed its desire to even make cigarette advertisements. This company chose to take a different approach. Their advertisement makes the world appear peaceful and right because things are just natural. The pathos is virtually silent, making a much stronger case for a better earth by just using natural products.
This advertisement would not work at all if it were located in another magazine, and it is not well laid out for selling cigarettes. What it does appeal to is the idea of “natural”. It apparently tastes better and in all other ways is better to farm without the use of pesticides. The ad makes the Santa Fe Natural Cigarette Company seem responsible towards the welfare of humanity and the earth. In a larger way this ad is an appeal for people to like and support the company rather than the product. This might draw people to the product because if a person supports the company and what the company is doing, they might as well buy the product. Nothing about Mother Jones magazine is traditional, so for this audience the non-traditional advertisements might sell cigarettes.
Works Cited
"Natural American Spirit ." Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company. 2007. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company. 5 Sep 2007
"FAQs- Frequently Asked Questions." Mother Jones Magazine. 2007. Mother Jones Magazine. 5 Sep 2007
Wood, Nancy V.. Essentials of Argument. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
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