As most of you know, I’m not a huge fan of smoking for a myriad of reasons, but I have to confess that the geniuses behind Marlboro cigarette advertising campaign have caught my attention.
In fact, by some measure, their campaign must be a success because I’ve had several conversations about it.
The first wave is what caught my attention: gigantic white signs with the word MAYBE written across them and the letters MAY crossed out with a gigantic X, leaving behind, “BE”.
The only clue as to the product being offered was the warning message that smoking is going to kill you and your children, as well as make you and your clothing smell bad.
It was at this point I stopped paying attention to the ads because (1) I don’t smoke, and (2) I don’t think cigarette companies should be allowed to advertise.
But then the second wave of advertising started with strong messages like, “MAYBE NEVER WINS” and “DON’T BE A MAYBE” – with, at the bottom, the message “BE > MARLBORO”.
It was this bottom tag line that caught my attention and made me wonder about the advertising geniuses. In my experience the > symbol indicates greater than, meaning that the tag line reads “be greater than Marlboro,” which is to say, don’t smoke – be better than cigarettes.
Maybe some advertising expert can explain to me what it is I am missing, because, in my book, I am greater than Marlboro, and that’s going somewhere.
They should have used LaTeX to typeset their equation. 🙂
I think it’s more of an arrow than a greater than sign…
I would love to weigh in on this one, but I’ll need a signed retainer first.
Scott – at least, then, the font would look “good” — at least people who use LaTeX often say that things LaTeX look better than things Word.
Mateo – perhaps, hadn’t considered that, but if it is an arrow, it should be less a > and more a –>.
Honourable Husband – I hereby promise to buy you a beer the next time we meet, if you provide your wisdom on Marlboro.
guess “be>” was supposed to be “->” but I like your interpretation more
Regardless… it’s a stupid advertising campaign.
Katya – Thanks!
Mateo – by definition, yes.
I talked to a German friend who doesn’t live in Berlin. First he clarified that that this campaign is in Berlin — and when I told him it was, he felt that he had to think about it and that the target audience (e.g. smokers) was not usually hip enough to the jive to understand what was going on — in other words, it’s too sophisticated for the target audience.
This campaign has me stumped. I mean, what are they trying to say? I like to think of it this way: if you don’t smoke, maybe you’ll get cancer, maybe you won’t. But if you do…
I saw a parody of this with the word CANCER — and the CER crossed out, leaving CAN behind 🙂
Nope…sorry! Whatever it is I CANNOT (also biologically impossible to) be a pack of cigarettes! 😛 Because that would mean I am stacked with 18 or 23 others tightly and just waiting to get picked thinking it would free me and then end up being burnt with my butt in somebody’s mouth !!! No! no such nightmares!
🙂
http://oeilblanc.tumblr.com/post/17512416890/maybe-berlin-2012
Prashanth – True fact… It’d stink to be a cigarette.
SNA – excellent!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3099817648662.2141196.1060779322
The “>” is called “the rooftop” and comes from the red top part of the package, just a little modified and rotated. It’s found in various Marlboro ads and doesn’t mean “greater than”. I worked on this campaign and it’s so funny to see, how nonsmokers like me do adbusting etc. on this 🙂
So what does it mean then? Why is it there, when the actual “rooftop” is right on the package being displayed next to it?