Tory advert rated poster of the century | Media | The Guardian
Tory advert rated poster of the century
Image that put aggression into political promotion
Saturday 16 October 1999 11.31 EDT
First published on Saturday 16 October 1999 11.31 EDT
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The Conservative party's 1978 poster of a snaking line of people queuing for the unemployment office under the slogan "Labour isn't working" has been voted the poster advertisement of the century.
Created by the Saatchi brothers, the poster is cited as instrumental in the downfall of James Callaghan's Labour administration in the 1979 election and the rise of Margaret Thatcher, partly because he rose to the jibe and complained. It also marked a sea-change in political advertising as, aiming at traditional Labour supporters who feared for their jobs, it was the first to adopt the aggressive marketing tactics which characterise modern elections.
Judged the poster of the century by a jury of advertising creative staff for the trade magazine Campaign, Labour Isn't Working beat a first world war recruitment poster into second place.
The much-copied image of Lord Kitchener comanding the nation's young men to join up, part of the Your Country Wants You campaign, has become "one of the century's great iconic images," said Campaign.
Another poster from the late 1970s, Benson and Hedges's Pyramids campaign, came third. As the advertisers were unable to use the ad to say anything about the cigarettes themselves, the slogan-free poster simply shows a group of four pyramids at sunset. Campaign said that in pioneering the use of surreal imagery, the ad "marked a turning point in tobacco advertising" and "created a new kind of art form".
The most recent advertisement to feature in the top 10, at 10th place, was Wonderbra's poster of 1994. A picture of model Eva Herzigova in her bra, with the slogan "Hello Boys", stopped traffic and caused a national furore. Calling it "the poster image of the 90s," Campaign's editor, Stefano Hatfield, said the idea had caused little fuss in women's magazines, proving that the medium was key to Wonderbra's success.
"Careless talk costs lives," the ministry of war's slogan from 1940, was deemed the most memorable campaign of the second world war, and ranked eighth in the all-time list.
A 1934 Guinness ad promoting the drink's health benefits was fourth. With the slogan "For Strength", the poster shows a worker carrying a girder, hinting at the power granted to the Guinness drinker.
At fifth, the Economist's "management trainee" poster, was singled out from the magazine's long-running campaign of witticisms on a distinctive red background. Mr Hatfield described it as "the cleverest of an inspirational collection of advertsements".
Mr Hatfield pointed to the dearth of posters from the 1950s and 1960s in the century's best posters as evidence of the rise of television as an advertising medium. "It is a situation that was redressed only in the wake of two extraordinary poster campaigns of the late 1970s; the Conservative party and Benson and Hedges," he added.
A book, Campaign's 100 Best Posters of the Century, will go on sale next month.
The top 10
1 The Conservative Party "Labour isn't Working" (1978)
2 The Government "Lord Kitchener Wants You" (1914)
3 Benson & Hedges "Pyramids" (1977)
4 Guinness "For Strength" (1934)
5 The Economist "Management Trainee" (1989)
6 Health Education Council "Pregnant Man" (1969)
7 Araldite "Sticks" (1982)
8 The Ministry of War "Careless Talk Costs Lives" (1940)
9 Benetton "Baby" (1991)