Media Coursework-The NHSs Get Unhooked advertising campaign, which was launched in 2008 caused a lot of controversy among viewers. There were a lot of complaints about the way smokers were portrayed in the advert.

The advert uses dull and dark colours to make people think that smoking is a negative thing to do. The colours makes you think that smoking will change your colourful and lively world into a grey and gloomy one. As a result it puts a question in your mind, “ should I smoke?”.

Also the use of dramatic and scary music in the background highlights and increases the effectiveness of the colours and the lighting therefore making it more realistic.

The choice of characters in the advert makes this an effective advert. In the beginning we could see a child and the mother. And we could that the mother hardly has any time to speak to her child because of her smoking habits. Although this can be offensive towards people who smoke, but it can also be kind of a warning for mothers who smoke. The advert shows the harsh reality behind smoking, it shows that smoking can take up your time as well as a lot of money, which is mentioned by a voice over in the advert.

The action of the characters getting hooked like a fish is another scare tactic. This action is meant to represent the addiction smokers have towards smoking and it is effective because it shows that once you are “hooked” to smoking, you get pulled towards it.

The use of the slogan “Get Unhooked” is effective because it is quite catchy. It creates a strong message because the word “unhooked” suggests the smokers to get released from the addictive nicotine and come back from the grey, gloomy and numb world of smoking to the real one.

To sum up, I think the overall message of the advert is quite loud and clear. It shows a smoker how bad smoking is and it tells them to quit it. And I think the advert has been quite effective in doing so, although the advert is quite disturbing and offensive but that’s the harsh reality of smoking.