The Effects of Ads on Smoking Behavior - Essay Example

?Smoking in Ads INTRODUCTION Smoking imposes extensive unfavorable impacts upon the abuser’s health and also to the health of individuals within the periphery of the smoke. Apparently, there are numerous disadvantages of smoking. It also has probable effects on the next generation, which makes it a more severe concern. In this similar concern, advertisements, although often used as a product/service promotion tool, can also prove effective in generating awareness amid the viewers’ by highlighting the negative effects of smoking. It is anticipated that the advertisements will prove much beneficial for the viewers to gain a comprehensive understanding about the imposition of ill-effects due to smoking upon an individual’s health. THESIS STATEMENT The thesis intends to argue on the fact that most advertising is made towards raising the usage of various products and on the same time, warning the viewers regarding the destructive behavior of smoking that can have unfavorable impacts upon the societal well-being at large. DISADVANTAGES OF SMOKING One of the common themes that many anti-smoking advertisements are based on intends to showcase the disadvantages of smoking on the health of the consumer. As depicted in these advertisements, the possibility of the smokers to suffer from several diseases, which can even cause significant threat to their lives. It is quite obvious that smoking affects both the physical along with the mental state of the regular consumers causing threat to various diseases. Theoretically, smoking is regarded as the habit or the action of inhaling the smoke of a tobacco or a particular drug. It is worth mentioning that smoking affects the physical state of an individual through the formation of numerous diseases like emphysema, lung cancer and respiratory or heart diseases. At certain times, most of these diseases result in causing death of the individuals due to excessive smoking. Based on the above discussion, it can be affirmed from a broader understanding that negative consequences are observed from excessive smoking. Apart from affecting the physical state of an individual, smoking also affects the mental state of the regular abusers as well. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the biological factors engaged in smoking eventually affect an individual’s mental state by a considerable extent. It can be affirmed in this regard that the regular doses of a substance i.e. nicotine present in cigarettes eventually leads toward extensive changes in the individual’ brain, resulting in affecting their mental state at large (Mental Health Foundation, “Smoking and Mental Health”). Thus, showcasing these disadvantages of smoking, affecting the physical along with the mental state of regular abusers, anti-smoking advertisements tend to generate significant impacts on societal awareness against such destructive behaviors. SECOND HAND SMOKERS Another theme addressed in anti-smoking advertisements emphasizes the negative consequences faced by second hand smokers. In general, it can be affirmed that unavoidable smoking effects pertain not only on the abusers but also upon the second hand smokers breathing in the same air and therefore, reside within the periphery to be directing affected by the tobacco smoke. With this similar concern, secondhand smoking affects the lives of the individuals in the form of deteriorating their mental along with physical health. Conceptually, the notion of secondhand smoke is typically observed as the mixture of smoke that results from the burning end of a particular cigarette and also the smoke, which is exhaled by the smokers. It is quite evident that secondhand smoking distresses the people around the abusers in the form of causing several health related problems, even lung cancer. These problems may be related to respiratory along with ear infections, severe attacks of asthma and lung cancer among others. It can be apparently observed in this similar concern that the inhalation of secondhand smoke imposes unfavorable impacts upon normal functioning of blood, heart along with vascular systems, thereby raising the risk of causing heart attacks. As per recent estimations, the significant concern of secondhand smoke causes near about 46,000 premature deaths resulting from heart diseases every year in the US amid the individuals who are non-smokers. From this estimation, it is quite evident that smoking imposes unfavorable impact upon the people who share the same air and also the people who remains around the smokers. It has also been viewed that certain individuals or the people are at higher risks of getting affected through secondhand smoke. These individuals might include the workers belonging to the service industry that include restaurant servers along with bartenders, children, infants and pregnant women. In relation to secondhand smoke, it can be affirmed that the tobacco smoke comprises in excess of 7,000 chemical compounds. Out of these chemicals, in excess of 250 are regarded as quite harmful and a minimum of 69 are known towards causing cancer (CDC, “Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke”). Thus, addressing such a vital ill-effect of smoking through anti-smoking advertisement can also be deemed as effective enough to raise the awareness amid society to discourage such behavior. EFFECTS ON THE NEXT GENERATION After acquiring a brief idea about the disadvantages of smoking and its unfavorable effects on the people around the smokers sharing similar air, it can be affirmed that this would certainly impose considerable impacts upon the children as well as young adults belonging to the upcoming generation. In accordance with this particular theme, anti-smoking advertisements can be observed to showcase the significant effects of smoking, particularly on children and on the societal trends at large. It can be affirmed in this regard that children usually gets attracted towards smoking from smokers, to feel adult-like and thus get attracted towards such abuse. As a matter of fact, owing to their basic instincts, children generally try to copy the adults who smoke, realizing that it is not something that should not be prohibited and thus they start to smoke. It is worth mentioning that the children usually get affected from secondhand smoke, emitted by the adults, resulting in their poor health conditions at large. This can be justified with reference to the fact that secondhand smoke results in impairing the immune structure in children, which eventually raises infection related risks amid them. In this regard, asthma is observed to be one of the common diseases prevalent amid the children who smoke periodically of get affected by secondhand smoke. In this context, adolescents and young adults can be observed as the prime victims of tobacco abuse. This unfavorable effect of secondhand smoking eventually raises the risks of meningococcal disease, which at certain times, may cause death to the patients (Quit Victoria, “Effects of Smoking on Children”). CONCLUSION From the above analysis, it can be affirmed that advertisement has indeed been a noteworthy tool to promote anti-smoking behavior by conveying the message to quit smoking, highlighting its unfavorable impacts upon the physical and the mental state of an individual. Addressing the various ways though which individuals often get affected from such disruptive behavior, advertisements have been acting as a beneficial tool for communication. Works Cited “Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke.” CDC. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. “Smoking and Mental Health.” Mental Health Foundation. n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. “Effects of Smoking on Children.” Quit Victoria. 2013. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. Read More