Advertising creativity in the 1960s inverted convention by celebrating flaws

Evidence

The firm infused the same rebellious themes into nearly all of its work. Wells herself instructed the staff to come up with ideas this way: “Consider what you can’t do, then do it.” Indeed, doing it the unconventional way became reflexive. When, for instance, Philip Morris gave them the account for Benson & Hedges—an old British brand whose main distinction was its length (100 mm)—Wells came up with a strange set of advertisements that focused on the disadvantages of a longer cigarette—being caught in doors, under car hoods, and so on, with the tagline “Benson & Hedges 100’s must taste pretty good; look what people put up with to smoke them.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 589

Categorization

• CANDY: The Benson & Hedges campaign of advertising the product’s disadvantages is a fun, easily retellable anecdotally.
• XREF: connects to: Ad agencies signaled creativity through dress and appearance in the late 1960s

Broader Connections

• Ad agencies signaled creativity through dress and appearance in the late 1960s #complicates (0.72)