illustrated essay
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Graphic designers play a significant role within advertisement and propaganda as designers can influence and persuade a subject towards the ‘lean back’ generation of audiences. Pluralists believe that the power holds within the audience and not the institutions and that people have freedom of speech; however a Marxist would state that audiences have no power, and that the successful institutions peddle the dominant ideologies of our society. Designers are able to communicate the subject towards the audience through different mediums such as television, radio, and print. Designers can also inject ideologies into audiences as creating an idea can shape and shift our hegemonic society.
During the sixties cigarette propaganda was a popular and successful selling technique to increase profits and sales. Audiences would be suppressed with large amount of advertisement as companies would connect to their target audiences as much as they could. However between the 60’s and 70’s tobacco companies lost the law suit to the rights of advertising cigarettes on television. Since then the advertisement of cigarettes dropped and so the tobacco companies were losing a large amount of their consumers. In Britain 1993 44% of smokers questioned in a government nation survey agreed that “smoking can’t really be dangerous or the government would ban cigarette advertisement.” Not all audiences acknowledged the effects of smoking; this is primarily because the propaganda was hiding the truth behind smoking. This then lead to the fall of cigarette advertisement as health organisations decided to act upon this misled information. This shift of propaganda was vital as the advertisement of tobacco went from persuading audiences to smoke, to using scare tactics so that audiences would understand the effects.
Anti smoking groups represent a voice that is inconsistent with the goals of capitalism, they seek to reduce and eventually eliminate the consumption of a commodity through appeal to the essential extraneous value of health. Anti smoking advertisement has had a significant impact towards smoking audiences as 21st century smoking has taken its toll, audiences are now more aware on the side effects and the disease that comes with smoking. However in much poorer countries living in a much more poorer economy around the world such as Indonesia laws are not introduced to smoking, the regulations and age restrictions aren’t has heavily influenced as young audiences in Indonesia are able to purchase cigarettes at such a cheap price. The reason for this is because of the direction on which tobacco advertisement is heading, institutions such as Sampoerna and Marlboro are influencing audiences to smoke through the means of modern propaganda.
Phillip Morris International Inc is an American global cigarette and Tobacco Company with products sold in over 200 countries, Phillip Morris owns its most recognizable cigarettes Marlboro and Benson & Hedges. Phillip Morris offered $5.1 billion to Indonesia’s second biggest cigarette maker Sampoerna which was founded by Liem Seeng Tee in 1913. In present times there are no age restrictions or other regulations for the purchase or smoking of tobacco and so the Sampoerna advertisements are targeting the young users as legally the institutions are able to make profits amongst the youngsters of Indonesia.
This has created a diverse economy within Indonesia as protest groups are opposing the regulations of smoking and that their children have been threatened with the risks and effects that comes with smoking. Post modern tobacco advertisement is not noticed as much due to young audiences acknowledging to why there is none. Young Indonesian audiences are born into this hegemonic society were your encouraged to smoke, is the primary reason to why cigarette brands are targeting them.
Sponsorship in relation to propaganda is a method of advertising a brand. Sponsors tend to have some connection or relation to the subject of it being a sponsor, for example Adidas and Nike would sponsor in a marathon due to those brands being related to the subject. This poster of an Indonesian concert reveals the Sampoerna sponsor to its audience; tobacco advertisements are creating relations to its target audience. This use of direct sponsorship promotes its brand by linking it with the style of the target audience. In relation a statistic shows that 1 in 4 children between the ages of 13 – 15 in Indonesia smoke tobacco which is a large amount of consumers.
The concert was intended for young audiences as the likes of Muse, Katy Perry, and Flo Rida have all had their input with the sponsor. Therefore it seems that the advertisers and designers of Sampoerna are active participants within this influential crisis that’s occurring within Indonesia. The means to make money rather than save the lives of its audience is a crucial and horrific, however business around the world implying the same propaganda tactics, by giving the audience false consciousness and mislead of truth
The advertisement targets its young audience with its slogan ‘go ahead’; the slogan invites audiences to smoke their cigarettes. In this specific advertisement the video clip shows a group of youngsters having a party, then as one of the characters smokes a cigarette the rest of them smoke too, the clip then ends and the slogan then appears. Institutions such as Sampoerna are not only advertising cigarettes (even though the advertisement of tobacco has died in other countries) but they are advertising their cigarettes to such a young target audience.
Marxist theorists Murdock and Golding write ‘the underlying logic of cost operates systematically, consolidating the position of groups already established in the main mass media markets and excluding those groups who lack the capital base required for successful entry. Thus the choices which survive will largely belong to those least likely to criticize the prevailing distribution of wealth and power.’ In this case, one could add ‘or who draw attention to the health consequences of smoking. The promotion of conviction within Sampoerna cigarettes is one that creates this dystopian society within Indonesia, how young children are being influenced and persuaded to smoke.
Sampoerna’s famous slogans ‘go ahead’ features in a lot of TV adverts in Indonesia. In this particular advert an Indonesian man travels a far distance and the further he goes the more he decides to leave his technology and belongs and starts to become adventurous starts to appreciate ‘life’. This advert contradicts itself as even though as a viewer your watching this man go on his journey at the end of it all its purpose is to persuade you to buy Sampoerna cigarettes. This mislead information has become consistent within the design and advertising purposes across Sampoerna as their not revealing the truth that other cigarette brands are doing in more industrial areas globally.
By analysing and decoding advertisements, your able to structure the purpose of the design that was laid out specifically by the designer. In the background I can see some graffitti and in the midground I can see a stylish teenager. The brand logo is overlapping the picture with the slogan again embedded in the image. This supports their intended target audience as Sampoerna are targeting a young audience due to the graffitti and the stylish young actor. The street sense of this image represents the brand as Sampoerna are influencing more young audiences to moke in a more subtle advertisment. Within the image you cannot see the ciggerattes however bcause this is a popular brand of ciggarette all you need to show is an image and the logo and then audiences will understand what it is that the brand is trying to sell.
Many of Indonesia’s cigarette adverts show fit, happy, middle-class Indonesians, these advertisements come in different forms such as billboards, in magazines, in airports and bus stations. The false representation of these advertisements creates a hyper reality as this is not what Indonesia is. The large majority of Indonesians are living in lower class standards and can’t afford to wear stylish clothes, however on the adverts it’s a style Indonesian that doesn’t even have to smoke yet it advertises the brand; whereas reality is that on average children start smoking at the age of seven. Also the one of the television advert shows a teenager climbing mountains reflecting absurdly inspirational circumstances. These exaggerations are influencing the audience’s ideologies such as freedom, independence, romance, and excitement; instead it’s just a cigarette advertisement. It’s misleading and it’s not giving that much information about the cigarette itself.
‘We cannot ignore the fact that young people are recruited into smoking by colourful, eye-catch, cigarette displays. Most adult smokers started smoking as teenagers and we need to stop this trend. Banning displays of cigarette and tobacco will help young people resist the pressure to start smoking and help the thousands of adults who are currently trying to quit’ was said by British Health minister Anne Milton 2012. It portrays the means to stop influencing young people to smoke and that we cannot show them advertisements that might encourage them to do so. In becoming a controversial public subject, cigarette advertising has come to serve as a focus for ethical conundrums. The ethics of this particular advertisement proves not to manipulate the audience but to serve the means to become an international top selling cigarette brand.
Despite this demonising of Sampoerna the design advertises cannot hold the entire blame of the smoking crises. Indonesia’s hegemonic state has lived by the rules that there is no age restriction or regulation against smoking, and that it has become more a social attribute to the trend. Anti smoking is not as reinforced as tobacco institutions are relying on the much poorer countries to gain their mass profits. Simon Chapman a member of the world health organisation’s expert committee on smoking control said that ‘Advertisement is a mechanism which sustains a set of representations’. In this context Sampoerna isn’t to blame for the crises of advertisement but more of the values of culture within Indonesia. In order to create the balance of choice audiences need to acknowledge the effects of smoking with anti smoking propaganda as no such anti smoking advertisements are being counteracted amongst the gate keeping.
The way on how the advertisers of Sampoerna promote their brand is that they capitalise and use the Indonesia’s regulations on smoking to their advantage. ‘Modes of communication and cultural expression are determined by the structure of social relations’ by Marxists theorists Murdock and Golding, underline the methods to how Sampoerna gain so much success, how the brand promotes its cigarettes to a country that has such a high smoking rate, with 67% of male smokes. The large amounts of misled propaganda leaves the consumer thinking it’s alright to smoke, but as these big institutions hold the power, they are able to demonise their enemy which would be the protest groups that want to introduce anti smoking propaganda.
Marlboro which is another cigarette brand owned by Phillip Morris apart from Sampoerna however Marlboro is a more well known and popular international cigarette brand. ‘Marlboro country’ which was once America back in the 1960’s used to be the top selling cigarette brand of all time, however adverts dispersed entirely, Marlboro reduced its sales in America substantially. Marlboro then shifted from the west towards the east to gain profits, and like Sampoerna Marlboro once again caught the eyes of the consumers. The comparison between Marlboro and Sampoerna is that Marlboro during the 60’s had its reinforced advertisement, now that its advertisement is gone, now in the postmodern era Sampoerna has its reinforced advertisement. They’re both popular in Indonesia however Sampoerna targets more towards the youth.
Media theorist Roland Bathes believes that a myth serves the ideological interests of a particular group in society and that the way of perceiving reality and society which assumes that some ideas are self evidently true, whilst others are self evidently not true. Propaganda itself is a myth as it’s questionable to whether or not psychologically advertisements can communicate an ideology. Dominant ideologies can be suppressed upon a user and can shift and create a biased view as ideologies are only what we perceive to be an ideology of whether the idea is someone else’s. The myth on weather information about cigarette advertisement is kept away from us is also debateable. Indonesian activists are heavily involved in the anti smoking debate, just as much as the advertisers; but from what we know is that they have the power to peddle the dominant ideologies of society. Being able to design and suppress propaganda towards a large audience and to create a perception to these brand representations is something only a designer can create.
The advertisement of tobacco suppresses the ideology of smoking towards audiences as the institutions can convey the message through different platforms such as radio, television, and print. The hypodermic needle theory injects these dominant ideology into the audiences and gives them this belief that they decide whether they should or shouldn’t smoke, however these audiences have false consciousness as the vast range and large amount of tobacco advertisement being suppressed gives them the satisfaction to smoke. The designers and advertisers of Sampoerna prove that profits are more worthy then morals. They’re able to capitalise on the culture of Indonesia and they’re able to use misled propaganda as their selling point to create sales. Although I believe that law and order needs to be embedded as anti smoking advertisement needs to be reinforced internationally, it is the dominant ideology that creates the culture that would be difficult to manifest as the ethics and hegemonic values have grown and adapted within Indonesia’s society that I feel as if even if anti smoking propaganda would be introduced I’m not certain that misunderstood children would be able to stop.
During the sixties cigarette propaganda was a popular and successful selling technique to increase profits and sales. Audiences would be suppressed with large amount of advertisement as companies would connect to their target audiences as much as they could. However between the 60’s and 70’s tobacco companies lost the law suit to the rights of advertising cigarettes on television. Since then the advertisement of cigarettes dropped and so the tobacco companies were losing a large amount of their consumers. In Britain 1993 44% of smokers questioned in a government nation survey agreed that “smoking can’t really be dangerous or the government would ban cigarette advertisement.” Not all audiences acknowledged the effects of smoking; this is primarily because the propaganda was hiding the truth behind smoking. This then lead to the fall of cigarette advertisement as health organisations decided to act upon this misled information. This shift of propaganda was vital as the advertisement of tobacco went from persuading audiences to smoke, to using scare tactics so that audiences would understand the effects.
Anti smoking groups represent a voice that is inconsistent with the goals of capitalism, they seek to reduce and eventually eliminate the consumption of a commodity through appeal to the essential extraneous value of health. Anti smoking advertisement has had a significant impact towards smoking audiences as 21st century smoking has taken its toll, audiences are now more aware on the side effects and the disease that comes with smoking. However in much poorer countries living in a much more poorer economy around the world such as Indonesia laws are not introduced to smoking, the regulations and age restrictions aren’t has heavily influenced as young audiences in Indonesia are able to purchase cigarettes at such a cheap price. The reason for this is because of the direction on which tobacco advertisement is heading, institutions such as Sampoerna and Marlboro are influencing audiences to smoke through the means of modern propaganda.
Phillip Morris International Inc is an American global cigarette and Tobacco Company with products sold in over 200 countries, Phillip Morris owns its most recognizable cigarettes Marlboro and Benson & Hedges. Phillip Morris offered $5.1 billion to Indonesia’s second biggest cigarette maker Sampoerna which was founded by Liem Seeng Tee in 1913. In present times there are no age restrictions or other regulations for the purchase or smoking of tobacco and so the Sampoerna advertisements are targeting the young users as legally the institutions are able to make profits amongst the youngsters of Indonesia.
This has created a diverse economy within Indonesia as protest groups are opposing the regulations of smoking and that their children have been threatened with the risks and effects that comes with smoking. Post modern tobacco advertisement is not noticed as much due to young audiences acknowledging to why there is none. Young Indonesian audiences are born into this hegemonic society were your encouraged to smoke, is the primary reason to why cigarette brands are targeting them.
Sponsorship in relation to propaganda is a method of advertising a brand. Sponsors tend to have some connection or relation to the subject of it being a sponsor, for example Adidas and Nike would sponsor in a marathon due to those brands being related to the subject. This poster of an Indonesian concert reveals the Sampoerna sponsor to its audience; tobacco advertisements are creating relations to its target audience. This use of direct sponsorship promotes its brand by linking it with the style of the target audience. In relation a statistic shows that 1 in 4 children between the ages of 13 – 15 in Indonesia smoke tobacco which is a large amount of consumers.
The concert was intended for young audiences as the likes of Muse, Katy Perry, and Flo Rida have all had their input with the sponsor. Therefore it seems that the advertisers and designers of Sampoerna are active participants within this influential crisis that’s occurring within Indonesia. The means to make money rather than save the lives of its audience is a crucial and horrific, however business around the world implying the same propaganda tactics, by giving the audience false consciousness and mislead of truth
The advertisement targets its young audience with its slogan ‘go ahead’; the slogan invites audiences to smoke their cigarettes. In this specific advertisement the video clip shows a group of youngsters having a party, then as one of the characters smokes a cigarette the rest of them smoke too, the clip then ends and the slogan then appears. Institutions such as Sampoerna are not only advertising cigarettes (even though the advertisement of tobacco has died in other countries) but they are advertising their cigarettes to such a young target audience.
Marxist theorists Murdock and Golding write ‘the underlying logic of cost operates systematically, consolidating the position of groups already established in the main mass media markets and excluding those groups who lack the capital base required for successful entry. Thus the choices which survive will largely belong to those least likely to criticize the prevailing distribution of wealth and power.’ In this case, one could add ‘or who draw attention to the health consequences of smoking. The promotion of conviction within Sampoerna cigarettes is one that creates this dystopian society within Indonesia, how young children are being influenced and persuaded to smoke.
Sampoerna’s famous slogans ‘go ahead’ features in a lot of TV adverts in Indonesia. In this particular advert an Indonesian man travels a far distance and the further he goes the more he decides to leave his technology and belongs and starts to become adventurous starts to appreciate ‘life’. This advert contradicts itself as even though as a viewer your watching this man go on his journey at the end of it all its purpose is to persuade you to buy Sampoerna cigarettes. This mislead information has become consistent within the design and advertising purposes across Sampoerna as their not revealing the truth that other cigarette brands are doing in more industrial areas globally.
By analysing and decoding advertisements, your able to structure the purpose of the design that was laid out specifically by the designer. In the background I can see some graffitti and in the midground I can see a stylish teenager. The brand logo is overlapping the picture with the slogan again embedded in the image. This supports their intended target audience as Sampoerna are targeting a young audience due to the graffitti and the stylish young actor. The street sense of this image represents the brand as Sampoerna are influencing more young audiences to moke in a more subtle advertisment. Within the image you cannot see the ciggerattes however bcause this is a popular brand of ciggarette all you need to show is an image and the logo and then audiences will understand what it is that the brand is trying to sell.
Many of Indonesia’s cigarette adverts show fit, happy, middle-class Indonesians, these advertisements come in different forms such as billboards, in magazines, in airports and bus stations. The false representation of these advertisements creates a hyper reality as this is not what Indonesia is. The large majority of Indonesians are living in lower class standards and can’t afford to wear stylish clothes, however on the adverts it’s a style Indonesian that doesn’t even have to smoke yet it advertises the brand; whereas reality is that on average children start smoking at the age of seven. Also the one of the television advert shows a teenager climbing mountains reflecting absurdly inspirational circumstances. These exaggerations are influencing the audience’s ideologies such as freedom, independence, romance, and excitement; instead it’s just a cigarette advertisement. It’s misleading and it’s not giving that much information about the cigarette itself.
‘We cannot ignore the fact that young people are recruited into smoking by colourful, eye-catch, cigarette displays. Most adult smokers started smoking as teenagers and we need to stop this trend. Banning displays of cigarette and tobacco will help young people resist the pressure to start smoking and help the thousands of adults who are currently trying to quit’ was said by British Health minister Anne Milton 2012. It portrays the means to stop influencing young people to smoke and that we cannot show them advertisements that might encourage them to do so. In becoming a controversial public subject, cigarette advertising has come to serve as a focus for ethical conundrums. The ethics of this particular advertisement proves not to manipulate the audience but to serve the means to become an international top selling cigarette brand.
Despite this demonising of Sampoerna the design advertises cannot hold the entire blame of the smoking crises. Indonesia’s hegemonic state has lived by the rules that there is no age restriction or regulation against smoking, and that it has become more a social attribute to the trend. Anti smoking is not as reinforced as tobacco institutions are relying on the much poorer countries to gain their mass profits. Simon Chapman a member of the world health organisation’s expert committee on smoking control said that ‘Advertisement is a mechanism which sustains a set of representations’. In this context Sampoerna isn’t to blame for the crises of advertisement but more of the values of culture within Indonesia. In order to create the balance of choice audiences need to acknowledge the effects of smoking with anti smoking propaganda as no such anti smoking advertisements are being counteracted amongst the gate keeping.
The way on how the advertisers of Sampoerna promote their brand is that they capitalise and use the Indonesia’s regulations on smoking to their advantage. ‘Modes of communication and cultural expression are determined by the structure of social relations’ by Marxists theorists Murdock and Golding, underline the methods to how Sampoerna gain so much success, how the brand promotes its cigarettes to a country that has such a high smoking rate, with 67% of male smokes. The large amounts of misled propaganda leaves the consumer thinking it’s alright to smoke, but as these big institutions hold the power, they are able to demonise their enemy which would be the protest groups that want to introduce anti smoking propaganda.
Marlboro which is another cigarette brand owned by Phillip Morris apart from Sampoerna however Marlboro is a more well known and popular international cigarette brand. ‘Marlboro country’ which was once America back in the 1960’s used to be the top selling cigarette brand of all time, however adverts dispersed entirely, Marlboro reduced its sales in America substantially. Marlboro then shifted from the west towards the east to gain profits, and like Sampoerna Marlboro once again caught the eyes of the consumers. The comparison between Marlboro and Sampoerna is that Marlboro during the 60’s had its reinforced advertisement, now that its advertisement is gone, now in the postmodern era Sampoerna has its reinforced advertisement. They’re both popular in Indonesia however Sampoerna targets more towards the youth.
Media theorist Roland Bathes believes that a myth serves the ideological interests of a particular group in society and that the way of perceiving reality and society which assumes that some ideas are self evidently true, whilst others are self evidently not true. Propaganda itself is a myth as it’s questionable to whether or not psychologically advertisements can communicate an ideology. Dominant ideologies can be suppressed upon a user and can shift and create a biased view as ideologies are only what we perceive to be an ideology of whether the idea is someone else’s. The myth on weather information about cigarette advertisement is kept away from us is also debateable. Indonesian activists are heavily involved in the anti smoking debate, just as much as the advertisers; but from what we know is that they have the power to peddle the dominant ideologies of society. Being able to design and suppress propaganda towards a large audience and to create a perception to these brand representations is something only a designer can create.
The advertisement of tobacco suppresses the ideology of smoking towards audiences as the institutions can convey the message through different platforms such as radio, television, and print. The hypodermic needle theory injects these dominant ideology into the audiences and gives them this belief that they decide whether they should or shouldn’t smoke, however these audiences have false consciousness as the vast range and large amount of tobacco advertisement being suppressed gives them the satisfaction to smoke. The designers and advertisers of Sampoerna prove that profits are more worthy then morals. They’re able to capitalise on the culture of Indonesia and they’re able to use misled propaganda as their selling point to create sales. Although I believe that law and order needs to be embedded as anti smoking advertisement needs to be reinforced internationally, it is the dominant ideology that creates the culture that would be difficult to manifest as the ethics and hegemonic values have grown and adapted within Indonesia’s society that I feel as if even if anti smoking propaganda would be introduced I’m not certain that misunderstood children would be able to stop.