Visual pictures can have an effect on college student’s decision to smoke or not. The five images attached portray smoking as dirty and unattractive. The larger message is that smoking has a bad connotation and you shouldn’t do it. When smoking gets brought up to someone that smokes on a regular basis, these images have little impact on them. If any of these pictures were portrayed in a way that made smoking look fun and enjoyable, a whole different message would be introduced. Many ads today are trying to encourage our generation to end smoking completely. Some photos that are used for this topic, anti-smoking, could be used for other topics. They have different interpretations. Through these different photos, color, shadows, different angles, and just different types of images are used to portray the idea that smoking is amiss.

It is commonly said: it takes just one and then you’re addicted. The first image is especially clever. The most prominent element is the shadow of a gun. Although, a gun is not pictured. The shadow is created by a hand holding a cigarette. The gun appeals to the emotions of the viewer by asking, “do you want to basically commit suicide by picking up that cigarette and becoming addicted.” This can resonate with college students because their environment is full of peer pressure. The image of the gun may stay in the mind of the person and make them think twice when tempted to smoke. The only colors that are used are black and white. By doing this, the author of the photo wants you to focus more on the shadow than the actual hand.  The gun is a metaphor for smoking. Again, the image is relating to a much larger message than just one cigarette.  

The second image is also powerful to the college student audience. Showing money rolled up like a cigarette and burning it, is especially scary to a broke college student. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $6.00. If a person gets addicted they can spend over $2,000 a year on cigarettes. Lack of money to a student can be a huge motivator to never begin smoking. Showing precious money being burned is relating to a larger message of not smoking or beginning the bad habit at all. This image can be successful in playing to the emotional side of a broke college student and is a good tactic when targeting this audience. It emphasizes a real component of smoking rather than glamourizing it. 

The two images of the dirty cigarettes on the ground continues the argument of not smoking. It looks dirty, unpleasant, and something that a person wouldn’t want to put in their mouth. Seeing the cigarette after it has been smoked and discarded emphasizes the reality of a nasty habit. It does not look glamourous or appealing and continues the larger media message that smoking is bad. Since media has proven to be effective, especially with young adults, these images are important. This image joins the others in trying to influence the attitude and behavior of the viewer.  

When watching any positive commercial on TV, the viewer sees that mostly everyone shown is perfect and happy. In the image with the woman smoking, blemishes can be seen on her face. The cigarette is crushed and burned all the way to the butt. From what can be seen, the woman has no expression on her face, which gives off a negative connotation of smoking. When seeing people in a mundane state doing something, it makes other viewers less likely to do it. Most pictures or ads that have to do with tobacco use make the actors or models look upset or they are chronically injured. This pushes viewers away from using these products. This image joins the others in trying to influence the attitude and behavior of the viewer.  

The hour glass image has multiple meanings. Smoking takes time off of someone’s life for many medical reasons. In the hour glass shown, the man is drowning in his own time and there’s nothing he can do to slow time down. He’s stuck. The hour glass is a metaphor for how people feel when they’re trying to quit smoking tobacco. The man looks frightened and is panicking. He is portrayed as a younger looking man, which is when people usually pick up the habit of smoking. The viewer can assume that the hour glass gets smaller as the person gets older since time is being taken off your life.

Smoking used to be a favorable pastime, but recently that has changed in many people’s opinions. Some smoking ads get right to the point saying “Don’t smoke, it’s bad” while others have underlying meanings that could have a much larger effect if actually looked into. Through the pictures that have been chosen, the viewer can see photos that directly and indirectly talk about smoking. The images that directly talk about smoking mostly use colors or focusing techniques to bring out what’s most important in the picture. In the images that are more indirect when talking about smoking, symbols are used to bring out the meaning of the image. The larger theme is brought out in all of these that smoking is overall a terrible habit to develop. Through different techniques of portraying pictures, the same message can be brought on. Color, angle, and shadows give off the widely agreeable thought: smoking is a nasty habit to pick up and it needs to stop. If nothing is done, life’s can be taken and much more. 
