The Marlboro Ads as a Propaganda Advertising Argumentative Essay

April 15, 2022 by Essay Writer

Propaganda advertising refers to the process of advertising, which is aimed at influencing consumers towards the consumption of products through the presentation of one side of an argument. Advertisers cautiously select information to present to the public by omitting counterproductive information.

As such, the target of information presented is to alter the attitudes of consumers towards the interests of the advert sponsors. This practice has led to the creation of manipulative adverts, which do not convey the features of actual products being advertised due to exaggeration (Moon 97).

Consequently, consumers become the victims of propaganda advertising since they cannot receive the expected utility from products acquired based on adverts.

The Marlboro ads are examples of propaganda adverts. In this regard, the adverts are used to promote consumption of cigarettes by using a great cowboy. Leo Burnett represents a skillful cowboy with the capability to perform extraordinary activities.

The cowboy can undertake extremely difficult tasks, which cannot be achieved by common people. In essence, consumers are directed away from the product being advertised to the skills of the cowboy. This is attributed to the small proportion of space covered by the marketed product in the whole advert.

The intention of placing a skillful cowboy in the advert is to depict that smoking cigarettes has magnificent effects. Through this initiative, consumers are triggered to consume the product in order to achieve extraordinary heights.

For this reason, consumers would not view the product as being harmful but essential for their survival. At the same time, consumers are not shown the harmful effects of the tobacco smoking making potential individuals smoke while the smokers continue to smoke.

Although the product is known to have reasonable health hazards, no such information is covered appropriately in the advert. The advert does not present such information with emphasis since this would be counterproductive to the initiative.

This implies that one side of the issue is portrayed to consumers, which is manipulative and misleading. In addition, the intention of the advert is to market cigarettes, and for that reason, consumers have to be lured with unrealistic achievements in the usage of the product.

The consideration of outsourcing of activities from third-world countries demands the adoption of ethical practices. In this regard, it is vital to ensure that organizations hire third-world labor provided that the jobs are better than any other options they might have, they are treated decently, and they are provided with opportunities to improve their lives.

This implies that the US firms would be motivated to incorporate the labor contribution from the third world countries. For this reason, the third-world countries would be offered opportunities that are ideal with respect to their skills and knowledge (Moon 145).

As a result, they would have decent opportunities, which ensure that they are treated appropriately as other workers. Furthermore, the provision of opportunities would be critical in ensuring that they earn a living. Through the rewards they receive from the international organizations, they would improve their standards of livings.

Following these initiatives, it is possible to motivate organizations to consider third world labor and promote the standards of living in the countries.

Integrity refers to the consistency, truthfulness, honesty and accuracy of the activities that are undertaken by an individual or an organization. This implies that information is presented in the actual of way of existence regardless of the consequences.

In such cases, integrity would cost an individual’s character or organization image, but it is essential for the interests of the society. Through such a value, transparency and accountability are promoted.

Work Cited

Moon, Chris. Business ethics. London: Economist, 2001. Print.

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