Be informed

The last batch of Lucky Strike advertisements were pushing the boundaries of their ‘strike-through’ campaign. The life cycle of each poster seems to be getting shorter. Only two weeks’ ago was I discussing ‘the main thing’ (14 June, 2014); on my return to Munich, there are two more Lucky Strike posters that, for me at least, lack any Wow! factor. The first, left, tries to be contemporary. The image is of a man reading a book (a first for a cigarette advertisement, perhaps?) instead of, as the strike-through would suggest, networking online with friends. I have to say, my own experience of reading a book in that position is not good. He’ll soon be back to the relative comfort of sitting at a table with his laptop. A position that also makes it easier to consume the product.

The second poster is bemusing to say the least. The poster has the slogan 364 Friends, with 36 being struck through, as it were, leaving four friends. Nice. But I cannot work out what the 364 means. Maybe the character had 364 friends on Facebook, but since taking up book reading he has only four left. Alternatively, the other 360 friends have all died after consuming this product.