Crazy old aunts deserve to die. What? This image represents somebody’s ‘crazy old aunt’, wearing copious amounts of blue eyeshadow, a fur coat and flashy jewellery, while holding a glass of what seems to be liquor and striking a tough looking pose. At face value, this advertisement seems pretty harsh, why would anyone deserve to die based on their personality and characteristics?
Although it could be viewed as a little brutal and even somewhat truthful to some, this complex image has a lot more meaning to it than it seems. The title of “Crazy old aunts deserve to die” is what is used to capture the attention of the audience, and then follows with the confronting phrase “if they have lung cancer”.
This is an ad from the Lung Cancer Alliance, who used shockvertising in an attempt to put an end to the stigma that surrounds lung cancer, and the idea that anyone who suffers from it did something to deserve it, as a result of all the negative connotations surrounding smoking and how it is said to cause the disease.
The foundation have released a series of similar images with shocking headlines, such as ‘cat lovers deserve to die’, ‘the tattooed deserve to die’, and ‘hipsters deserve to die’. All of these stereotypes of people tend to be not as popular in society, and the company believes that if people who smoke and have lung cancer are labelled as deserving of cancer and ultimately dying, then advertising that these people deserve to die also, it will evoke a lot of thought and awareness about the issue of lung cancer.
It is definitely possible to read this image in multiple different ways, obviously at first glance it is quite shocking and unexpected, however when looked at closer, there is a very important message being put across about the stereotyping of the deadly disease cancer, something that has affected billions of people and their families.
Elly Moore 
Loved reading this blog post Elly! Your honesty and directness towards the idea is well integrated throughout your post, which is what I enjoyed the most because it allows for the readers like myself to understand the face behind the blog written. A minor criticism would be to define and outline the key concepts and ideas, to further signify your knowledge. Besides this, I really enjoyed reading your post and gaining and understanding of your thoughts and beliefs on this particular image. It is portrayed that you have a strong viewpoint in this topic, which is evident throughout the blog. Keep delivering great content!
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