OUGD 601 - Practical - Noting design

The image above displays the manipulative techniques that advertisers from the tobacco industry are known for, applying the style of the past, but in a contemporary medium.

The government has the right to obtain a space on any type of product and promote its message whether the public like it or not… 

E-cigarette logo...

Although the e cig is being marketed as a healthy alternative to cigarettes, it also has a higher rate of nicotine which when used excessively can lead to the certain side effects of nicotine illustrated below...

In the same manner Marlboro created their strong and impressionable design, I want to use sharp shapes to create the design for the outer covers of my publication deliverable, 

OUGD 601 - Primary research

Interviews/ data collection/ quantitative & qualitative information.

Interview - Qualitative data - The daughter of a 'greaser', her father worked at 'British American Tobacco' for 30 years, he started just after the war in 1945.

I was presented with the chance to interview her through my dad, my aim was to ask open ended questions which she could then expand on and supply me with a rich source of information. Hopefully I could extrapolate some strong points.

Questions asked… While working at British American tobacco, how was your father looked after?

Could you tell us about his roles in the tobacco industry?

Did many people work there?

Was the idea of smoking also passed onto workers, as well as the consumers?

"It wasn't a well paid job, but he was paid weekly. His job was a greaser, every morning he would grease all the packing machines, so they worked smoothly and efficiently for the day.

It wasn't automated back then, and he had to look after all the cigarette box packing machines. During the day, any machines that stopped working, Jack was asked to fix.

He was jovial (happy) at work and got on well with his work friends and the majority of women working there heavily outweighed the proportion of men working there.

It was very noisy and there wasn't any protection or health and safety in those days.

Started work in 1945.

Approximately 800/ 900 staff.

Machines running most of the time , workers got paid a flat wage i.e. no incentive or bonus schemes.

Majority of people smoked at the factory and got a discount on cigarettes due to working there.

Jack didn't talk much about working at BAT.

Started work at 7:00am and finished at 5:00pm, Got to work by bus and train.

Cigarettes were exported around the world but majority at the Liverpool plant were for the UK. Jack smoked constantly and smoked a brand called 333" and then 555"

Jacks vocal chords twisted due to his constant smoking and got Lung cancer. Had one of his lungs taken out due to lung cancer.

Got glass vase due to his long continued service.

The following photographs were primary evidence that the daughter of Jack let me photograph...

What can I learn from this interview? Well it strongly suggests that the introduction of modern technology at the time (lithographic machines, bigger, faster printing presses) created a large supply and demand that tobacco advertisers were trying to compete with, hence the amount of employers and fact that it was proportionally machine operated. Jacks job role also illustrates that the machines were of great importance. One of the most important points that was brought to light during this interview was the fact that the majority of women working there were women. Coinciding with the war, womens social status was changing and women were beginning to take on roles of men in society, this is clearly demonstrated by the proportion of women working in the factory following the war.

Experimental study / Practical Questionnaire - Quantitative data

Control group - 10 participants - Smokers

The only information that was given to my control group was that it was an investigation into the effects of brand differentiation.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate:

Whether brand differentiation was superficial and simply a method of promoting the act of smoking itself (through the matching of desires and attitudes in advertising)

OR

Whether brand differentiation permeated into the taste and blend of tobacco itself, creating a product that was distinguishable from others.

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Was brand advertising promoting ideas of conformity through representations of individuality? Using 5 different high-street brand of cigarettes: Marlboro, Lambert and Butlet, Embassy, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall. I was able to distinguish that the majority when blindfolded couldn't recognize the difference in tobacco blends, from this we can infer that brand differentiation in advertising is a driving force to create conformity through the representations of individuality.

Results

The cigarettes were smoked in the same order for each participant, noise levels were kept at a minimal level to allow for concentration. In-between the smoking of a cigarette, a list of 5 brands were placed in front of the participant, who was then asked to circle what brand they thought they'd smoked.

90% of the control group were unable to recognise a brand of cigarette they were familiar with when asked to smoke blindfolded. Strongly suggesting brand differentiation was superficial and simply a method of ultimately seeking conformity.

OUGD 601 - Practical - Products

I have chosen to adopt past strategies employed by tobacco advertisers to raise awareness of a 'revolutionary' e-cigarette (that is being faltered by contemporary health labels). Through my dissertation it was continually illustrated that, the ability of tobacco advertisers to react to cultural and social change was striking. With this in mind, I wanted to demonstrate that the subculture, E-cigarettes, can also employ such strategies to work in a contemporary social climate. This idea builds on the end part of my dissertation, by the fact that E-cigarettes are already adopting past strategies of tobacco advertisers in their emergence.

Just as cigarettes were, when they first became socialised, e-cigarettes are seen to be healthy in some aspects, this is due to how new they are and the availability of findings to support claims of them being unhealthy (As demonstrated in my dissertation) My practical illustrates how the emergence of the E-cig has been effected by the rise of the tobacco industry and how they manage to react to experiences encountered in the changing pace of culture.

Part 1i) Health regulators have learned from the way e-cigarettes are advertising and 'recycling the past' of tobacco advertisers and thus created a more direct and shocking health label to try and abolish the idea that smoking electronic cigarettes is in some way beneficial. Introducing such new health labels for the e-cig demonstrates a progression on behalf of the health regulators, as they've learned from the tactics of the tobacco industry who were continually faltering such claims that it was damaging to health. Demonstrating an application of theory.

Part 2) However now the C2 has emerged, and it is pitching the male audience. Just as 'Torches of Freedom' created equality for females. The C2 aims to give back the mastery of the phallus to the male. Promoting ideas of: oral pleasure, the ideal man, bravado,  a mastery of the phallus (cigar).

Promotional publication - (make reference to the front cover & concept of moving with the times, taking inspiration from the past, marlsboro - shape and form. remembered as red for burning. Blue shape and form, remembered as e-cig, the future.

I used an extended version of the logo to strengthen the idea of it being an electronic cigarette while also enhancing the ideas of the man.

I used snappy text just as tobacco advertisers did, to promote the idea that it is ultimately upto the consumer to chose, accommodating to their ideals, despite health warnings, it should be their individuality that speaks for them. And what the e-cig is trying to portray, is that it represents an ideal man who is strong and as one being.

Poster designs...

The following symbols are representations of technological parts, promoting the idea that the e-cigarette has redefined smoking, through its technological advancement.

As most of the promotion for e-cigarettes is done online, I created a web presence that worked fluently with the concepts in my designed identity: www.c2thefuture.com

The label below was introduced after the C2's release, the health regulators decided to step in again and stop this scapegoating that was so prevalent in the history of tobacco advertising, and judging by the way e-cig is following suit, health regulators thought the best way would be too create a health label primarily for C2 - the health label represents a direct attack on the messages that are trying to be portrayed by C2. The intentions where to stop this e-cig becoming a form of symbolism for the modern man. Drawing reference from the idea that it represents a phallus and challenging ideas that it won't be standing tall like the subliminal ideas suggest behind C2's identity.

Developmental screenshots...

I chose the following colour scheme because it represented a very manly collection of colours that suited the contemporary climate.

I chose to use the following types of Apercu text because it was a sans serif font and was a contemporary typeface, again fitting in with contemporary climates.

OUGD 601 - Methods of collection for subject discipline

During the developmental stages of my essay structure, I made sure I was taking note of the online resources available on e-studio and also during the dissertation lectures. While researching and reaching the final stages of my planning, I refereed to information supplied during one of the lectures. Concluding that I was undertaking and pursuing the following…

The following screen shots demonstrate an investigation online...into different aspects of my structured questions, the rest of my information was sourced from the above research methods, noted also in my bibliography. 

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The marlboro case...

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/08/16/manly-brand-icons/

"The Marlboro Man is assuredly the most successful and most controversial manly brand icon on the list. Created in 1954 by advertiser Leo Burnett, the Marlboro Man was a lone, rugged cowboy who always had a Marlboro cigarette coolly dangling from his lips.

The story of why the Marlboro Man was created is pretty fascinating. Marlboro cigarettes were some of the first in the U.S. to feature filters. But back in the 50s, filtered cigarettes (and particularly Marlboros) were considered a chick’s cigarette. So to increase sales among men, the Marlboro Man was born. In a few short months after the Marlboro Man campaign started, the womanly aura around filtered cigarettes had successfully been replaced with a manlier one, and sales increased.

The first Marlboro Men were actors dressed up like cowboys, but ad man Burnett thought they lacked authenticity. So he began a search for a real cowboy who could play the Marlboro Man. They found their man in Wyoming rancher, Darrell Winfield. Winfield played the iconic brand spokesman from 1968 to 1989.

During his heyday, the Marlboro Man could be found everywhere–from the pages of popular men’s magazines to a giant billboard in Times Square. But during the late 80s and 90s, the Marlboro Man suffered a one-two punch that resulted in his quick decline. The first blow came from the deaths of three former actors who took part in the Marlboro Man ad campaigns. All three men died from lung cancer, a disease caused by smoking. Their deaths garnered a great deal of negative publicity for the Marlboro Man, the Marlboro brand, and the cigarette industry as a whole.

The second blow came from anti-tobacco litigation, which resulted in limits being placed on cigarette advertising in magazines and on radio, television, and billboards. Because of the negative press surrounding the Marlboro Man and tobacco in general, Philip Morris discontinued the campaign in 1999.

Despite being laid to rest with other brand icons, the Marlboro Man still lives on in pop culture and continues to influence the way masculinity is portrayed in America."

Pintrest: Imagery resource...

Possibly one of the best anti smoking adverts I've seen, displaying a very emotive and psychological approach (similar approach and form from tobacco adverts)