Tobacco Industry

I watched a Ted Talk earlier this year that reminded me of the topic discussed in class today: The Tobacco Industry and raising awareness of its negative effects. Turning Powerful Statistics into Art by Chris Jordan had a powerful and innovative delivery throughout his presentation. Chris took, what could have been a very dry presentation, and approached it with a very original and creative style. He was informing the audience about statistics and the reality of this world. He was talking a lot of numbers, but did it in a way that brought impact and emotion. He knew his audience and kept them engaged and interested the entire time. He had a steady and effective pace and took appropriate pauses allowing the statistics to sink in, bringing a variety of outlooks and reactions. He really portrayed his deep concern for this world and the reality of all the unknown that most are not aware of. He brought emotion, creativity, facts, passion, insight, and meaningful information into what could have been a very dull, informative presentation. Jordan’s presentation was very memorable. For example, Jordan took the result of an incredibly tragic, unforgettable event, 911, and compared it to the reality of this world regarding deaths due to smoking. Something I believe to be very effective throughout his presentation was the fact that he did not just use numbers on a screen to inform us about the statistics. He took those numbers and turned it into a piece of art to represent each statistic. He not only delivered a powerful presentation, but a created a work of art. His entire presentation brought the “unknown” into the “open”.  His example regarding 911 was not to undermine or reject the tragedy of 911, but it was a bold statement to raise awareness that “x” amount of people died that day, but the same “x” amount of people die every day due to smoking. So these deaths, from his perspective were already going to happen regardless if 911 happened or not because people are still smoking. Now I know that is a harsh and bold statement, but it puts truth and reality at the forefront of our minds and hopefully puts a new perspective on how serious the effects of smoking really are.