Camel Advertising

     This advertisement is for Camel cigarettes and was created to make smoking cigarettes more attractive.  The shape and position of the woman's body in this advertisement keeps our eyes moving around the picture.  The curves of this woman contour with the objects she is sitting on.  The "Camel" logo appears at the top of this advertisement and tapers downward.  This added curve leads our eyes back into the picture and the text "Pleasure to Burn".  The colors in this picture allude to a certain coolness as the background, logo, and one of the objects the woman sits on share a same calming color.  The yellow compliments these colors and creates the atmosphere for this woman to smoke her cigarette.
     The first step in Bennet's four step process to analyzing ideology within an artifact is "what should the audience think or do?"  This ad makes viewers think about an attractive woman smoking a dressed up cigarette.  Also that she is having a good time because of her smile and relaxed posture.  It appears she is holding a cigarette casually in one hand and a remote in the other.  Overall, the viewer thinks that this woman is attractive and having fun and perhaps the cigarette is the reason for this.
     The second step is, what does the text ask the audience to do?  The text in this advertisement has a duel meaning.  Under the Camel ad, the text reads "pleasure to burn".  One interpretation of this is; burning cigarettes causes pleasure.  The second meaning is that of a sexual meaning.  Attractive women are often considered pleasureable so this ad capitalizes on that.  Basically the text in this advertisement encourages women to smoke and become something desired.  Also to a man, this advertisement makes the cigarette more attractive because of the attractive woman smoking it.
     How does the audience know what these texts mean?  The audience knows this because everyone knows that cigarettes burn.  In our society the word "pleasure" is often associated with euphoria which is often related to sex.  The ad almost advertises an indulgence in pleasure because there is so much of it, you can let it burn.
     The last analytical step is; who is empowered or disempowered?  Well, depending on who you are and your perspective there could be several view points.  One way to look at it is, women are disempowered because the woman is being objectified as an object of pleasure.  However, another viewpoint is that the woman is empowered.  She seems to be having a good time, she is in control of her surroundings, and the she is the focal point of this picture.
     After dubunking this advertisement with the four step process one thing is for sure, smoking is desirable.  To who is empowered could be debated but basically the purpose is to sell cigarettes.  The demographic this ad targets is extremely broad because this woman is attractive to many generations and both sexes to either want to obtain the woman or be that woman.