The ad “Be happy, go lucky” by cigarette company Lucky Strike effectively reveals the cultural context of the advert by showing the women’s desire and that a man has to fulfill due to society’s expectations and stereotypes. This is shown where the focal point of this advert is made up of two figures. One figure is a man kneeling down for the women while holding a pack of cigarette towards her lips. The gesture of kneeling down evokes a sense of wanting for the man to get attention from the women, as if he is begging for her to see him or join him. The social context is showcased when the man and women are at the beach wearing with their swim wear with the waves in the background and pressumably the sun as a lighting which turns on a warm/pleasant mood through the colors and location of the advert. The encouragement to smoke contributes to the unknowingly effects that come along with smoking connecting it to the historical context. For the historical context, there are varies forms of patriotism and symbols displayed giving a context of the advert. the American badges and colors used such as red, blue and white throughout the cigarette boxes to the American badges show the patriotism in the advert and therefore show the historical context along with the U.S. Marine approving the Advert and the messages along with the Advert.
The values of the American society during war times specifically WW2 include the importance of the mans role as well as the enjoyment in smoking that both sets the theme and slogan of the advert which is “Be happy- go lucky!”. The use of the cigarette being a “lucky strike” can be placed in the context of taking a “strike” by testing his luck as he attempts to impress the women with a pack of cigarettes or take a lucky strike and hopefully survive the war while being sent off to fight the man’s homeland in hopes that he comes back alive in one piece. The man is empowered in this commercial while the women is marginalized or not very relevant. This is simply because a man is more valued than a women since the women just smokes cigarettes while the man is on his knees begging and attempting to meet society’s expectations by fascinating the women’s appeal. Similarly to an accessory, the women is depicted as an “accessory” to a mans love journey because of her not having a say and being easily manipulated by a simple pack of cigarette.
Rodrigo! You managed to identify all the of cultural/historical/societal characteristics and link them back towards your "so what?". Thus allowing the readers to be directed in the correct direction in which you manage to state that "The man is empowered in this commercial while the women is marginalized or not very relevant". Personally I would agree with this statement and I had also come to same conclusion, however your justifications correlate to societal expectations, by which is something I had not stated. Overall, you manage to answer the questions at hand and manage to make unique justifications that allow your audience to understand your perspective quite clearly. In terms of the visuals of the advert, would you have anything to say about the Marine's placement or gestures? And what are the appeals that you see being displayed in the advert?
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