A backhanded compliment this week for the marketing industry, as Big Gov unveils its plans to banish logos from cigarette packaging. "Point of sale advertising works," they declare, "But we want to hear everyone's views first."
Well, mine - for what it's worth - is this: of course it does. Just ask your nearest shopkeeper. As usual in cases like this I'm thinking 'Are we supposed to be surprised, delighted, relieved, by the uncovering of this great revelation?'
Of course, good advertising, design, promotion, works. We couldn't possibly have been pulling the wool over all those clients' eyes for all these decades if it was all just one great job-creation scheme. Good marketing sells!
On which note, surely here's an opportunity for some opportunistic *** manufacturer to beat the rush to 'No Logo' ciggies. May as well be first into the market with plain type. And how about a new brand name while they're at it? Since the visual aspect will be diminished, the sound of the word will play a bigger part in persuading the unfortunate smoker it's a good idea to head for that early grave. So we need a nicely concrete name that's easy to remember (a graphic word) and which carries the best possible connotations. Maybe a shorter tube of tobacco, too. Elf Cigarettes, perhaps?
