Rhetorical Strategies

Rhetorical Devices in Marlboro Advertisement

The advertisement is for Marlboro cigarettes.  In order to sell more cigarettes, the advertisement tries to make the cigarettes being sold appear to be harmless.  By using a picture of a baby with subtitles rather than a grown person who’s smoking, the company appeals to the emotional side of consumers. The consumers are more likely to buy the product if they feel comfortable with it. The advertisement also appeals to the viewers sense of comfort in the decisions of one’s own mother. Most people feel that their mother is wise and want to be like their mom. By playing on this, the advertisement encourages viewers to go out and purchase Marlboro cigarettes. Inference is also a key part of this advertisement. The advertisement infers that Marlboro cigarettes help to calm people down and make them feel better. People view this advertisement and go out to buy the cigarettes so that they too can be calm and relaxed. One other thing that the advertisement does in order to get the attention of the viewers is use the bright colors in the background. These help to ensure that people won’t just ignore the advertisement but will instead be captivated by the colors and read the advertisement. One last thing that the advertisement does is use the third person point of view. It is as if the viewer is in the same place as the baby and mother and listening to the conversation. This helps to relate the viewer to the advertisement.