Visual Analysis
of
Camel's Pleasure to Burn
An Ideological Criticism on Camel’s Advertisement
Camel cigarettes have always orchestrated a wide array of advertisements that try to reel in their audience. The company will use diverse ways of appealing to someone’s tastes: masculinity, sexuality, and consumerism. But in the case of the picture I’ve chosen for my visual analysis, the appeal emphasized feminine sexuality and the glamorous façade behind smoking. The picture showcases portrait of a woman in a light purple dress on a stage with curtains draping to her side. The woman has a light brown tint--indicating that she’s either of African or Hispanic descent--with smooth black hair. The dress she’s wearing has a glinting texture on the fabric. She is also wearing diamond looped earrings that contrasts with her skin tone. The curtains which are drawn back just a little in the background are a type of bluish purple; the fabric also seems very velvety with the folds being insinuated. The backdrop beyond the drawn back curtains show an absence of people with misty ambience of blue. The woman is also holding a tall vintage microphone that shines with all the contrast presented. But with all of the details on the woman and around her, there is one thing that is at the focal point of the art piece and that is the cigarette. She is holding a cigarette in the same hand with the microphone. Of course, the cigarette is lit and the smoke is emphasized in the piece--as if the smoke were tendrils evaporating into the air. With all the details, the advertisers intentionally made them to cater to their expected audience and implant subtle suggestions to reel in more people to subscribe to the cigarette company. When looking upon Camel’s advertisement, a rhetorician could analyze in a number of ways. But the most notable type of critique appropriate for this advertisement is Ideological Criticism.
To sum up, Ideology is a system of beliefs that is in all cultures; it is associations and connotations that have been created from a collection of societal views. They could range from colors, symbols, objectification, images, and even words. And in the case of Camel’s advertisement, there is an abundant amount of associations behind every decision behind the fabrication of the design including the woman, her ethnicity, her dress and décor, the color and the background. All of these things can reel in an audience and help promote Camel’s products. It can also conjure up a type of fantasy for the audience. In the case of their advertisement, their purpose was to make smoking cigarettes as glamorous or as “classy” as the woman in her glinting dress.
At first glance, the woman is dark-skinned, probably indicating she was a different race--or conglomeration of ethnicities. In terms of ideology, the woman’s dark skin color is a symbol for diversity and integration. Not only was her skin dark, her hair is also. With her ebony hair, it also heightens the speculation of her racial ambiguity. The advertisers stressed the ambiguity of her ethnicity in order to cater to all types of races. And there by, the art piece grabs all types of people to subscribe to the cigarette company. It creates a sense that everyone, no matter the race, is encouraged to smoke their cigarettes; there is no judgment or segregation--and by emphasizing that, Camel increases it’s franchise and revenue. This contrasts with the norm of their advertisements where the advertisers showcased “Joe the Camel,” which was their spokes-camel of sorts, or they would have a Caucasian person smoking a cigarette. And clearly, that is not the case with the dark-skinned woman. The advertisers made this change intentionally for the money and to make them seem open-minded.
Aside from the woman’s racial obscurity, there is another element to my ideological analysis: the female form as a symbol for sensuality and class within Camel’s advertisement. The dark-skinned woman is slender but with a curvaceous attribute. The skin of this woman is smooth and her facial features are very profound and gorgeous. Her stance is slightly to her side which emphasized her figure and her curves. And her face looks away to the side towards the emptiness beyond the stage, insinuating her long neck and giving a sense of sensuality and vulnerability. With all these decisions, the advertisers wanted to give the impression that Camel cigarettes are for those who are sensual--or that smoking the brand makes a person sensual. The sex appeal is there in the art piece, with her posture and a little exposure of her breasts and neck; however, it is not overly sexed. Indeed the feminine form is present but her posture isn’t overly exaggerated. The purpose of this could be to reel not only male onlookers but the female audience. Through this symbol, people will formulate connotations with this woman’s stature. Men who look upon this woman and may think sex appeal--and will subconsciously want a woman like that. But in the case of a woman’s point of view, the female audience may look upon the dark-skinned woman as an icon of sensuality, class, and grace. Amplifying this is caption on top of the piece, below the product name: “Pleasure to Burn.” These words heighten the attractiveness and seduction of the woman and onto the cigarette. And women may have the impression that they could become her in a sense, if they smoke Camel’s cigarettes--and that is probably what the corporation wants: to create a tangible reality for women and men, which is what advertisement is.
Another rhetorical device worthy of mention is the execution and medium of the work. The advertisement isn’t some picture taken by a camera; it is a sort oil painting with a mixture sketching. The picture is also very realistic and smooth and have very accurate detail. The designer really paid attention to his execution in the piece. But the question becomes why would an advertiser go into such detain with the woman, the color scheme of the background, the texture, and the medium itself. And no it is not because photography wasn’t around; the advertisers could have staged out a photo shoot and taken a picture of a woman smoking in a sparkling purple dress. However, paintings and photos have a different extravagance about them: a photo captures a moment in time while a painting can capture more than that. In a sense, actual act of painting is a symbol in since there are connotations associated with it. A painting can be associated with high class and anything in the realm of the artistic. And since the medium is an oil painting, the advertisers want the audience to think that cigarettes are a piece of art. By fabricating this association, the audience would probably buy Camel’s brand to portray themselves as artistic and sophisticated.
To talk more about associations and symbolism, color scheme would be very important to address ideologically. The color scheme of the painting is collage of light blues and dark blues which contrasts to the dark skinned woman. Color would be a symbol because people have collectively placed meaning behind. Blue has a connotation of coolness, calmness, peace, and serenity. Applying different shades of blue to an art piece prints that association onto the canvas and can alter one’s perception of th piece. In the case of Camel’s advertisement, the audience could interpret a cool calming scene of a woman, which could imprint the assumption that smoking their cigarettes could make them calm and confident themselves.
Camel has paid attention to every aspect of their advertisement: the female form and how it can appeal to both sexes, the color scheme, the medium, and the ethnic ambiguity. All of those things do come into play to draw on the audience and persuade them to buy Camel products. However, this advertisement is different from others. As oppose to the dark skinned woman, other Camel campaigns would be outrageously sexual with woman’s curves and body positions being overly exaggerated. The dark skinned woman had sex appeal but wasn’t stretched, which could have lured women into thinking that cigarettes were not just a “man” thing to do.