Reflection:
When I first came up with the idea of researching cigarette commercials, I never would’ve thought that I’d end up tieing the theme of “truth” into this project. Initially, my intention was to only research the concept, story, and aesthetics behind a successful commercial campaign and recreate my own ad exaggerating those advertisement techniques to criticize the media’s effect on increasing the rate of smokers in the 90s and 80s. However, after reading maps of the imagination and reflecting back to my seminar research, I started to wonder how the media, in general, have led to my depiction of smokers. And has led to my urge to criticize advertisement campaigns for promoting something that I believe is negative. Therefore, I created a series of photographs, accompanied by text magnifying the media’s influence on myself. The texts are slogans and conversations I’ve grown up with, which influenced my depiction of smokers. The photographs are taken in the perspective of how adults I’ve grown up with would want me to depict teenage smokers as, to prevent me from becoming “one of them”.
Overall, exploring the theme of manipulation in media in both studio and seminar has been very intriguing. I am glad that my main idea came across in the final piece and started a meaningful discussion in class. I look forward to keep developing on this piece and go deeper into this research as well.
Risograph:
Initial Research Proposal :
For this research assignment, I chose to research advertisement posters, films, and news media that portray the cigarette culture amongst teenagers in the 40s-80s. I was drawn to the topic after listening to a podcast from the New York Times “The Promise and Peril of Vaping, Part 2 The story of Juul” In the podcast, it addresses how Juul advertisements play a role on this ongoing trend for vaping. Therefore I was curious to see how cigarette commercials are like back in the 40s to 80s. For my risograph poster, I would like to create an advertisement for an e-cigarette company emulating the commercial style back in the 40s to 80s.
Mindmap:
