In response to President Obama‘s soon-to-be-signed anti-tobacco legislation, which includes the requirement that colorful cigarette ads be replaced with stark black & white only text, design mavens Pentagram have revealed several intriguing ways in which Big Tobacco can package smokes under the new marketing guidelines.
The mastermind behind these designs–subtle gems such as multiple stabbings and skull & bones–is Pentagram partner DJ Stout, who started the project after a proposal from the St. Petersburg Times to interpret how brands like Marlboro could comply with the new rules.
On Pentagram’s site, Stout issues the following statement regarding the concept:
“Our marketing advice to cigarette companies in the new heavily regulated era is to fully accept the new aggressive anti-smoking restrictions and wallow in the government’s apocalyptic health warnings. Don’t make excuses or dance around the stepped-up marketing regulations, just transform the whole cigarette pack into a three-dimensional warning label.”
Whether or not Marlboro and its embattled ilk will heed Pentagram’s suggestions is uncertain. But Stout nevertheless has pulled off a notable faux-campaign that not only considers a smoker’s awareness that cigs will likely kill them but one which doesn’t alienate them anymore than they already are in society.