Ad Busting- Blog#7

The spoof ad titled "Joe Chemo Bed" is mocking the marketing and selling of Camel brand cigarettes by highlighting the devastatingly harmful effects of smoke inhalation. The camel, Joe, is laying in a hospital bed, clearly undergoing chemo treatments due to cancer caused by smoking. In the article "Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Desire", the idea of ad busting or mocking a particular ad to demonstrate its flaws or that which it over looks, are addressed. The Joe camel ad may be viewed in terms of this article's arguments in that it serves as a perfect example of critiquing society's blind belief of and allegiance to media's messages. Similar to the actions of the "Situationists", who altered the messages of billboards, this ad takes the usual characteristics of a camel ad and forces the reader to see it in a different manner. In another parallel, just as the magazine Adbusters alters the messages of ads in order to illuminate the harmful and politically incorrect implications, so does this poster highlight the negative effects of smoking. Not only does it demonstrate the lies which are fed to the common public about the coolness and attractiveness of smoking, but it forces the viewer to comprehend the true dangers which accompany it.

The concept of branding and its implications is also relevant to this ad: the effects of advertising have allowed for globalization, in particular "outsourced" industries. In lieu of cigarette campaigns becoming successful, the need for expansion and the spread of business grew, meaning the implementation of outside labor. This allows for the incorporation of underpaid sweatshop workers into production, a fact which protestors such as Klien (author of "No Logo"), vehemently remonstrate.

This spoof ad, while directly related to ads promoting the same product, differs most greatly in that it shines a negative light rather than a positive light on the results of using the product. A normal camel ad would illustrate a cool or suave man, or in this case a camel, casually smoking while reaping the benefits of an easy life. This mock ad does just the opposite: it shows the downside of smoking plus the side effects and the risk of illness or death.

In conclusion, the act of mock-adding or implementing 'detournement' is an attempt at awakening and making the public attentive to an alternate message or fact to which they may previously may have been unaware. The Joe chemo ad forces the consumer to recognize the risks and dangers of smoking, while overlooking the debonair image which accompanies it.