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Tobacco Control 1999;8:348; doi:10.1136/tc.8.3.348
Copyright © 1999 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
Tob Control 1999;8:348 ( Autumn )

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Next time you hear a tobacco industry representative extolling the neo-classical economists' defense of tobacco advertising as "information", here's a good example to put the claim to the test. The ad for Imperial Tobacco's Embassy was published in the scatological British comic Viz, immensely popular particularly among 14-year-old schoolboys who like reading about the expletive-deleted adventures of characters such as Johnny Fartparts and Buster Gonad, a boy with enormous testicles. The written text of the ad: "Tar, but no tar very much" (translation: "thank you, but no thank you very much") simultaneously alludes to the brand's low-tar status and to the veterinarian's request to be given assistance in his search inside the cow's rear end.

But it is beside the point to deconstruct the ad for its propositional forms. Aside from the concern that this ad falsely suggests that the brand has "no tar", its semiotics offer little . . . [Full text of this article]
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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Balbach, E. D, Smith, E. A, Malone, R. E (2006). How the health belief model helps the tobacco industry: individuals, choice, and "information". Tobacco Control 15: iv37-iv43 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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