Smoking Kills NHS Analysis

This is a public safety campaign poster created by the NHS that is trying to convince people to give up smoking by using threat and shock. It is aimed at regular smokers, most likely young adults of both sexes. The poster attracts the target audience by using colours that are not stereotypically associated with one gender (e.g pink is feminine whereas blue is masculine). The black is not only unisex but has also been used to highlight the message of the campaign- black is a dark, unhappy colour with negative connotations, the most common of which is death. This emphasizes how serious the effects of smoking can be and acts as an underlying threat.

The main focus of the poster is on the image of a skull made from the smoke of a cigarette. The skull is a clear representation of death and the fact it is coming from the end of the cigarette shows the audience that smoking is to blame and can be deadly. This is a shocking image, and could scare the audience in wanting to quit smoking in order to avoid an early death. Instead of resting on a plain surface such as a table, the cigarette is resting on an urn, which again reinstates how serious the problem is because of it's association with death and cremation. This could also be a metaphor; cremation is the burning of a body which could have been brought on by lighting/ burning a cigarette.

The main text is the simple 'Ashes to Ashes' in the centre of the right hand side of the page. This keeps in with the references to death and links between smoking and death that act as a threat to smokers of what could happen if they do not quit. It is a well know line from a prayer that is recited at Christian burials; 'Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust'. It could again be a metaphor that links the ashes of a cigarette to the ashes in an urn, again showing the audience how smoking kills. 

In the bottom right corner there is the small slogan 'smoking kills' which is very short and simple but effective in directly summing up the message of the campaign. Next to this is the NHS logo; they are the people behind this campaign. Although there are no contact details, it is obvious to the audience that they should go to the NHS for help or further advice.

Overall, the campaign uses threat and shock to show the serious message and try and scare the audience in quitting smoking.  Maslow's hierarchy of needs says that health is one of the first things that people need to feel content is good health and this poster makes the audience feel uneasy by showing the worst possible outcomes and using grim images with negative connotations.