This poster from the American Lung Association in 1985 addresses the problem of secondhand smoke (also known as involuntary smoking at the time, and more recently as environmental tobacco smoke), which provided the exclusive focus for the 1986 report of the Surgeon General on smoking. By reminding the viewer that his or her behavior affects children, the ALA avoids the polarization between nonsmokers and smokers that frequently characterized the debate over secondhand smoke in the 1980s. Placing a young girl in the role of "nonsmoker," the image has a potentially greater power to evoke a response on the part of the smoking viewer, by appealing to the viewer's sense of culpability. The headline also provides an effective complement to the photograph by reflecting the environmentalist ideal of social responsibility.
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