Message Appeal: What works and What doesn't work

I find that the guilt message appeal in ads affects me the most. When I see the various ads that are shown on television about bad smoking habits it makes me think twice about doing those things. One ad I find most effective in making viewers feel guilty about smoking is the ad about a young woman started smoking at an early age of 18 and now she has to use a voice box to speak to her child. It made me so sad to see that happen to very young women. This lady was not very old, I believe she was only 28 or so and she had to speak with help. It is horrible that something that many people engage in everyday can effect some so rapidly. It is scary and makes people wonder whether or not their life is important enough to risk over a cigarette.

The other ad that gets to me is the guy that smokes and lets others take control of his life. The commercial flips through different stages of this guy's life showing the effects people have on what smoking does to him. He had no control over his life, other people did because he smoked. I thought this commercial was sad that he had no control over what he did to his body and what he was willing to risk. At the very end he puts a stop to everything, all the movement of people around him and what they were doing to his body. He was finally through with people telling him how to look, act, and what to say. He decided it was time that he realized what he was doing wrong and he needed to change. I find that several ad messages appeal to people differently. The ads that make me feel guilty about something have the most effect on my emotions and help me make better decisions about things I should and should not do.

The ads that do not work for me are humor ads. They are funny most of the time, but they do not hit me deep down and have a huge effect on me like the guilt ads do. The ads that have fear as a message appeal to me some what, but they do not have as much as an impact. The fear and guilt message appeals have similar effects on me though. In one ad I will think to myself whether or not the message is trying to scare me or guilt me; the emotions are almost similar.