silk cut adverts

The silk cut advert were a piece of very clever advertising that had to get around a very big problem. The adverts were basically there for the purpose of trying to advertise and sell cigarettes to people through the cigarette advertising ban. However to get around the problem they used a surrealists technique by using word play of the brand name 'silk cut'. They did this by having some purple silk- which is the color of the logo with a small cut in it. So people had to engage more with it to find out what the brand or product was, as the only information on the advert where the mandatory health risks warnings. This advert was a massive risk as it could have gone one of 2 ways for the brand. people could have not understood it or even got what they were sell. However in this case it went down a storm and actually achieved the best selling brand in the start of the 1990's. Which i find absolutely amazing how this ban setting really tight perimeters for a company thats design to reduce the sales drastically. Managed to get around the problem and turn it into a massive positive.


I have looked at this because i really like its design philosophy behind the idea and feel that its something that i would want to achieve in my own future work. As i like ideas that are forward thinking and out of the so called 'norm'. Its also fits in quite nicely into my alice and wonderland project and the work i have been doing.