Health warnings: a communication strategy for reducing smoking

Abstract

The objective of this study is to understand the production of senses created by the images in the warnings displayed on Brazilian packs of cigarettes as a mass communication strategy to reduce smoking. The descriptive report is based on documents obtained from the National Cancer Institute (Instituto Nacional de Câncer – INCA), a Brazilian Ministry of Health agency. The document survey, used as a research technique, allowed for reflection on the discourses deriving from tobacco, which plays a leading role in this social scenario. The shifting of discourse strategies through health warnings transformed from “glamour” to demonization, from images of Hollywood movie stars to images of harm to the body, based on scientific evidence. We have selected the images of erectile dysfunction to analyze the communication dynamics of the discursive shift. We have also based our approach, even if only lightly, on concepts such as the production of senses and representations, which are key in the sciences of images and semiology. The methods of discourse analysis led us to the interpretation of the elements in these images that extend beyond the iconic signs. We have indeed sought to understand the communication ability of the image observed related to the text and context expressed in the subjects, history and sense effects, which extend beyond the cigarette packaging.