This is an advertisement for the HPV vaccination. The ad shows various moments that occur throughout peoples lives that they will want to be around for, indicating that if you don't get the vaccination you could end up not surviving long enough to live a full life which is an example of a fear message. By showing that cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV, could cause you to miss out on the important things in life, it makes a person believe that they need the HPV vaccine to survive.
This ad also gives off false information. There are many different strands of HPV that cause cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine only protects against a few strands. Therefore the vaccine does not stop cervical cancer from happening all together as the ad suggests.
It is successful at aiming towards it advertising market. Young women in there late teens and early twenties are the only people subject to the vaccine. The pictures used in the ad show women growing up and special moments that will happen in their life, especially the wedding picture. All women have a dream or goal of what their life will turn out like and the pictures used in this ad demonstrate some of those goals.
In general I think advertisement has a huge affect on the public opinion of STI's. I for one had never heard about HPV until the "ONE LESS" commercials came out. I think that advertisement also can change peoples view about how STI's can affect everyone not just so called "promiscuous" people. Advertisements can be very educational if they are actually providing factual information.
This ad hits home with its snapshots of a happy, healthy, cancer-free young woman as she goes through her life. It does a good job of using fear (though in a more subtle way) in order to convince more women to get the HPV vaccine. However, the ad can be sort of misleading since it doesn't target to a male audience. Our textbook says that even men can get HPV and thus cancer around the genital areas as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with your view on modern advertisements being able to open up the mind of the public by showing them that STIs can indeed infect everyday people--not just the sex-crazed. I think they help dispel that common misconception very effectively.