Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Superman vs Nick O'Teen!

Weird how many people remember this campaign. I was asked about it ages ago and eventually stumbled across this advert from January 1981 ... and you know how I hate to have stray pictures sitting around on my hard drive.

Update: When I posted this back on 2 April 2009, I thought that would be the end of it. However, I've just stumbled across this letter in the pages of Look and Learn from 2 January 1982 that directly tackles the question of why Superman was fighting cigarette addiction for the Health Education Council whilst also promoting "sweet cigarettes" for Bassetts:


7 comments:

  1. Alastair Crompton2 Apr 2009, 17:52:00

    The product of Saatchi & Saatchi.
    It must've cost a bob or two to buy Superman, but they used him well, and it's bang on the target audience.

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  2. Cute and Clear Message Advertisement. I used to amaze on seeing Spiderman & Superman figures on any advertisements during my childhood... They clearly conveyed message better than any living celebrity.

    Thanks for sharing Steve.

    ÇómícólógÝ

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  3. I'm old enough to remember this too. Those Marvel UK titles with an ad for Superman in them. I'm sure somewhere down the line there was a short comic strip and an animated tv advert.

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  4. hi also a superman fan i have the 8page comic and have just listed it on ebay .

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  5. Another interesting column, Steve. That issue of Look and Learn was only 15 issues before the magazine faded after 20 years & 1049 issues.Bassett sweet cigarettes were certainly very popular in the 60's & I can remember collecting a series of Disney characters.

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  6. Hi there.

    What a great find!

    I unearthed a couple of the print ads, along with the TV spots, for my blog (Starlogged) last year if anyone is interested:

    http://starlogged.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/superman-vs-nick-oteen-when-titans.html

    Cheers

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  7. I have two of the original promotional mini-comics for this campaign ...

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