An Issue with Anti-Smoking Ads

     The media is filled with anti-smoking PSA's, and some of them stay with us long after we see them. For me it's the TV commercial with a woman named Terrie who basically smoked herself to death (may she rest in piece) and is telling viewers not to make the same mistake she did. These federally-funded organizations try to make their messages stick with us by using the tactics of fear or by trying to target young people by using their trends. The Terrie commercial and the Real Cost commercials with people paying for cigarettes with parts of their body (below) are using scare tactics, which try to push people away from smoking because of what it can do to a person's body. The other form that is used to target youths (because smoking typically starts in adolescence) is by trying to infuse the message with trends so kids will remember it and respond to it better. For example, the commercials below by the Truth Campaign use things like hip-hop songs, Tinder, young people, internet "memes", and popular young stars like Becky G, Grace Helbig, and Ryan Higa to get into kids heads in other ways than fear. Although these campaigns are making these commercials in our best interest, how do people actually receive them? I myself have seen multiple occasions where people have made fun of these PSA's, and I kind of agree. The ads make it less about smoking and more about the fear or the cool factor, neither of which seem realistic. Even when these companies try to insert popular things from teen media, they do it in a bastardized way. The ads go to ridiculous extremes and I think they would be received much better if they made them like the one from Thailand (below) because it hits on the true sadness of smoking instead of trying to force or appease teens into not using cigarettes. This form of media is very valuable, but it can still be done it better ways than current American ads are doing it.