Nothing Hazy About These Consequences

The literal yet existential nature of this advertisement ensures its effectiveness from all points of analysis. By portraying the cigarettes as an actual bomb, the advertisement conveys the inevitable consequences that result from smoking. The cigarettes are a “ticking time bomb,” and they will eventually, unavoidably, explode, causing catastrophic damage to their user. The use of the hand to light the cigarette “bomb” speaks to the self- destructive, and subsequently preventable, nature of death by cigarettes. Additionally, the argument is grounded in two continuous and inescapable aspects of life: breathing, as demonstrated by the tagline “Every breath you take will eventually destroy your future,” and time, implied through the attachment of the cigarettes to a watch. A cigarette smoker cannot defeat the fundamentally, universally applicable constructs of time and breathing, and therefore cannot defeat their own eventual demise if they continue to smoke cigarettes.