The Wiki Man: Sporting behaviour

‘You’re never alone with a Strand’, created by the S.H. Benson agency in 1959, is now famous as the most unsuccessful advertisement ever. With its raincoated figure standing alone on Albert Bridge, seeking solace from some unseen misfortune by drawing on a Strand cigarette, it was admired on artistic grounds until it emerged that the imagery depressed not only viewers but also sales. In our defence (S.H. Benson later merged with Ogilvy & Mather), the Strand was also a lousy-tasting cigarette.

‘You’re never alone with a Strand’, created by the S.H. Benson agency in 1959, is now famous as the most unsuccessful advertisement ever. With its raincoated figure standing alone on Albert Bridge, seeking solace from some unseen misfortune by drawing on a Strand cigarette, it was admired on artistic grounds until it emerged that the imagery depressed not only viewers but also sales. In our defence (S.H. Benson later merged with Ogilvy & Mather), the Strand was also a lousy-tasting cigarette.

There are many historical cases where attempts at persuasion have backfired. The ballad ‘The Wild Rover’, never in my experience sung sober, was written as a temperance song. Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney character, intended as an indictment of Thatcherite materialism, became a mascot for city bankers. And, reading it at school, I thought Huxley’s Brave New World seemed a great improvement over real life in Monmouth.

The game Monopoly also belongs in this category. Before Clarence Darrow made his fortune from cut-throat capitalist roleplay, a forerunner had been launched as ‘The Landlord’s Game’ by Lizzie Magie in 1904, with the aim of educating players about the failings of capitalism, in particular the burdens imposed on workers by the owners of land. Magie was a Georgist, believing a tax on property should replace most other forms of taxation (actually a sensible idea which should be supported by any Londoner under the age of 50).