The British Leyland 18 –22 and the Vauxhall VXR Campaign
In this article I will discuss how the messages and values encoded in advertising for the British car industry have changed over time. The campaigns I will focus on are the 1975 launch of the British Leyland 18-22 (commonly referred to as the Austin Princess) and Vauxhall’s more recent VXR FHM Sports Driver of the Year.
Both campaigns are very much of their time. On the one hand, the BL18-22 campaign utilises traditional print and television media. On the other hand, the VXR campaign is an example of synergised multi platform branding. Unsurprisingly the messages and values encoded in each campaign are very different and of course the British Leyland campaign seems very dated. However, textual analysis reveals the newer VXR campaign to be somewhat less sophisticated in the construction of the text than at first it might appear.
British Leyland – 18-22 (1975)
On the surface the advertising campaign for the BL 18-22 seems extremely dated, not simply because it utilised only print and moving image advertising, but because it rehearses some very antiquated ideas about class and aspiration. Arguably the central problem with the marketing campaign is that it fails to understand the product.
Though the car was a...
