| Topic: | The Smirnoff Vodka Advert..placed on site of Pear's house | |
| Posted by: | Jim Lawes | |
| Date/Time: | 08/02/05 00:08:00 |
| It was Bruce Fenn, the Jeweller, who told me of the coincidence of putting the big poster on a hoarding on this site. A website gives details:..... "HITTING AN ICEBERG AUGUST 9, 1977 Over in England, advertisers also have their problems when they try for a non-traditional approach. Take the case of International Distillers and Vintners, which is licensed by Heublein Inc. to distill and sell Smirnoff vodka in Britain. International Distillers and its agency, the British subsidiary of Young and Rubicam International, developed a print ad for billboards, the underground (Americans call it the subway) and magazines showing a young women floating in a life jacket with the word "Titanic" on it. With a glass in her hand she says, "Well, they said anything could happen." The ad drew quite a few complaints from readers, however, that were sent to the British Advertising Standards Authority. One letter was said to have come from a relative of a passenger on the Titanic, which struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 15[sic], 1912 that caused the death of about 1,500 people. As a result of the complaints, the ad was withdrawn and another substituted in its place. |