In Class: "Candy Cigarette"

My attention is immediately drawn to the girl and how she is portraying herself to be much older. The way she stands makes me think this. She looks like she is casually out having a smoke with her arm folded across her stomach, her hunched over stance and "I don't give a crap" stare at the camera as she holds a cigarette between her index and middle fingers like what she is doing is the norm. She has obviously seen this and has been trained or conditioned to think this is what people are supposed to do.
The image as a whole is just kind of there... I really noticed the look on her face first and how mad and angry she looks. Then I saw the cigarette and the girl's stance. I noticed how much older the girl with the cigarette looks compared to the other little girl. This probably has to do with her pony tail and how she is standing with her hands on her hips like she does not approve of the girl holding the candy cigarette like that. The background is black and white and pretty blurred out, but that makes the girl with the candy cigarette stand out more and the other little girl kind of blend in as if the girl in white is the message that we are supposed to see.
This photo is kind of sad. The color and the girl's face and expression are what bring this emotion out of the photo. Perhaps what they are trying to tell us is that smoking makes people unhappy and that some people don't approve.
The purpose of this photo is to show us the effects smoking has on our youth and children. That we need to be better role models so that our children don't think they need to smoke because their parents did. I don't think the photographer is a fan of smoking and is trying to make a stand and a little girl is a powerful appeal to many audiences since most people like children and their innocence.