Visual Terror is a threat to a person through the medium of photographs, drawings, and
other imagery. Inciting terror visually is considered very effective because it matches
the thought. Roland Barthes in his book The Photographic Message (1961) argues
that the photograph is a reality that contains the denotative message. Denotative
messaging is conveyed in a manner immediately grasped by the recipient without
having to solve specific codes. This technique is used in Indonesia to deter smokers,
using photographs depicting the adverse effects of smoking on cigarette packs. The
photos are displayed on all cigarette packs manufactured in Indonesia, to ensure that
smokers see the photo repeatedly to enhance the impact of visual terror techniques
on the smoker’s subconscious. A smoker’s decision-making process in response to
terror is presented in this article. It is possible for smokers to quit smoking abruptly,
although it is difficult to do this consciously. One example of visual terror photos
is depiction of a human mouth that suffered damage, in addition to the picture the
packet displays health warnings and information about mouth cancer. In addition to
the denoted message about cancer of the mouth, smokers absorb the connotative
message that oral cancer is a dangerous disease caused by smoking, which, if not
treated immediately will continue to grow and eat away parts of the body and even
lead to death. The connotative message could inflict terror on the people who see it.
It will continue, according to the experience and socio-cultural circumstances in which
the person had been.