Ad Questions #1,2

1. The message in my ad is to show smokers how dumb they are for smoking. I used a photo of a camel drinking out of a toilet and beside this is a box of Camel cigarettes. Within the ad is a fact stating that smoking can cause damage to the brain. This fact is appropriate because the camel appears to have damage to his brain by drinking out of the toilet. The strategy I used to create my ad is looking at other smoking parodies and try to create one similar to those. All smoking parodies are basically making fun of a slogan or smokers themselves. In this ad I do both, with the camel and the toilet, and using one of Camel's slogans, "Smooth Character," to represent the camel. My parody pokes fun at both the slogan and smokers in general. I knew this would be effective because I found the picture to be extremely funny. Bottom line parodies are mostly funny, therefore if I think my parody is I also think it will be effective. Also, it contains a truthful fact to truly inform smokers how bad their addiction is,which will also make it more effective. When I moved from my concept to my design, problems arose such as, which slogan to use, which fact to use, how to visually lay it out, and which colors to use. By trying all my ideas and comparing them I was able to chose the best ones.

2. Working on this ad allowed me to learn about advertising as a form of public communication. Ads, or in this case parodies as well, are viewed by many individuals. This also means the message portrayed in the ad is spread to all the viewers. This makes advertising as a form of public communication very important. One has to strictly follow all the guidelines provided in "Text Messaging" to fully make the print ad successful. I learned the ad has to short and to the point, and more is not always better. There may a million words one wants to say in the ad, however keeping it sweet can be much more effective. I also learned that grammar is very important when it comes to a print ad. For example, the creator may not seem very credible if they cannot even spell. The message will also get across easier to the public if easier words are used and spelled correctly.