Thank You for Smoking

From a political follower, the advertisements (particularly the video) are absolutely terrifying. There are two that have come out recently, a short teaser ad and a full length trailer, and those are the best terms to describe them. The first, labeled by YouTube as “the smoking ad” is a plea from Cain’s Campaign Head Mark Bloc for supporters to get more involved in running the campaign, filmed outside what looks like a white building and a black gate. The plea is followed by about 10 seconds of slow motions smoking to a pop song, and ending with a signature turn-and-smile from the candidate.  

 The advertisement is completely overshadowed by the close-ups of smoking, a hot-button issue for American families and a target of media scrutiny, with television shows like “Mad Men” and movies like “Thank You for Smoking” addressing them by doing it. The way the camera moves on the performer/ speaker and the quality of the film suggest a young music video quality, contrasted by a middle aged man with a near-handlebar mustache. And the smile at the end of the film takes exactly 8 seconds, from the head turn, to the up turn of the lips. The quickly-filmed implication of the video, and the laughable conclusion created a giant media buzz and tons of internet searches. To me, this is a 1 minute example of where campaign ads and the American public focus their energy. The speech in the beginning is generic and forgettable, and the highlighted focus of the ad (underscored by a musical crescendo) is the action of smoking, and ending with a standard shot of the candidate, drawn out to a ridiculous time span to add seconds on the clock. This is a critique within a standard ad to words not matching the actions of people within the campaign, people who demand closer attention, despite an incumbent president running for office again.