Ads, or advertisements, are used usually to promote something. Some ads may be influential or inspirational. But some ads are really 'out-of-the-blue'. They may be offensive, or just plain random. For example, take a look at the following ad:

This ad was probably made quite awhile ago, maybe 50 or 60 years back. But the funny thing about this advertisement is what they were trying to promote. In the ad, there is a lady who is craving the mountain of food below her. And to fix this problem, the advertisers are promoting 'tape worms'. To me, that just sounds extremely gross. I mean, who would want to eat worms for dinner?

In my opinion, I think in the olden days, this was the kind of propaganda used to promote different diets. Instead of eating all this food beneath the lady's feet, tape worms were introduced to stop one's desire's from these enormous cravings. In the past there were actually such things as tapeworm pills which are used to help you lose weight. Tape worms can reach to about 20 feet, and they eat almost anything. A 1900s poster (possibly this one) was used to promote tapeworm pills. The idea revolved around the fact that the tapeworms would ingest the food before you could gain weight.

Today, there are a lot of different diets out there for everyone to try. Many nutritionists are out there to help you, along with personal trainers. There is even a reality show on tv about weight loss. I tune in every tuesday to watch The Biggest Loser on NBC. The show is about a group of obese people who are in a weight loss training camp, and their goal is to of course lose weight, and also learn how to be healthy.

Some of these ads: ...

are quite amusing actually. Like that first one, promoting Tipalet. I'm assuming it's a cigarette brand, and it gives out a special scent when you breathe?! It reminds me of the modern day Axe commercial. There is a boy who smells, whose also repelling the ladies, and when he uses Axe, all the ladies just magically come towards him. In the second poster, they're promoting a cigarette brand called Camel, and in their slogan, it says: 'More doctors smoke CAMELS than any other cigarette. This advertisement's funny because it sounds like doctors are actually smoking camels, as in the animal, and it's impossible for that to happen.

To me, these ads are trying to get into people's heads about 'how to get the perfect you'. The perfect you. Meaning, skinny, following all the latest trends, etc. "If you smoke this cigarette, you're one of the coolest people in town." Or "if you eat tape worms, you'll be the skinniest girl in your whole class". But in reality, these messages aren't true. You can be cool whether you're smoking or not. It all depends on what you want other people to be thinking about you. How you want to 'fit in'.

3 Comments:

Yeah, I found it weird how the tapeworm advertisement was basically saying, "Hey! You can eat all you want! Well, as long as they're tapeworms! Yummm".
I agree, not only are these ads trying to sell us their product, they're also trying to sell us this certain image.

By  Angeli, at February 11, 2010 at 7:30 AM  

I think my reaction was the same as yours. Creepy right? I was thinking, what person in the right mind would ever believe these advertisements. Especially the ad about losing weight using tapeworms was just gross. TAPEWORMS. I think the media world has lost its mind. That was the most creepiest to me. I think that technique that company was using was not that effective.

Larissa Sequeira Section: 02 Arturi

By  Anonymous, at February 22, 2010 at 7:37 PM  

When I first saw these advertisements, my reaction was quite similar to yours. Who would eat tapeworms?! Yuck. The other 3 advertisements were quite funny as well. Although the message of these ads are a bit ridiculous, I can't say much about it, since it was made so long ago, back when they didn't realize how unhealthy the products they were advertising were and the negative message it was spreading. Hopefully, when we look back at the ads today, we won't have the same reaction as we did with these ads.

By  Veronica, at March 22, 2010 at 6:43 PM  

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