The Major Rhetorical Argument/Stasis Theory of the Portrayal of Tobacco Use in Commericials

The 1960s is often thought of the age of widespread drug use.  Most think of LSD, heroin, marijuana etc. when talking about drug use, however tobacco was the most used drug at the time. At the time, the hazards of smoking were beginning to be realized, however, most chose to ignore the hazards because it was a familiar habit. The tobacco companies used commercials to persuade the pubic to continue to purchase their products, despite the new found hazards. The perfect example of this persuasion is in an Old Newport Cigarette Commercial .

Newport was one of the biggest tobacco companies at the time, and were responsible for many commercials like this one. In the commercial the company sets up the scene of an unhappy man who immediately lights up after he "lights up".  They want to portray a sense of happiness that cannot be found anywhere but in one of their cigarettes. They are encouraging smoking in this commercial, which is in line with the mindset of the time. This is a contrast to the anti-smoking push of today's society. In the modern commercial, cigarettes are portrayed as instruments of poor health and sadness. In today's society the push is to eliminate smoking all together. One stark contrast is the use of laughter and the beach to evoke happiness n the 60s commercial, but in the modern commercial they use teenagers/young adults with sunken eyes and decaying bodies. The 1960s commercial wants people to forget about the hazards of smoking and have fun, since that is what the focus was on back then. Now, smoking commercials have made a 360, and they now discourage what was once encouraged and thought to make people happy.