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P R O J E C T : W H I T E L A B E L
The most common text on the cigarette between the years 1993 – 2000: »Smoking Kills«.
2 0 0 3 – 2 0 1 3
As early as 1977, a bill was proposed in Sweden suggesting a requisite for marking tobacco products with war ning labels. The proposal aroused strong reactions in both the Swedish and inter national smoking communities and among tobacco lobbyists. As a result of the contention regarding the proposed labeling requirements, the proposition did not gain momentum until 1993 when an EU directive was passed. A new tobacco law (1993:581) was introduced that same year specifying:
»The pack aging of tobacco products which are intended for con-
sumer use within the countr y shall, in accordance with the policies set for th by the gover nment, be marked with text and illustrations that war n sation«.
Thereafter, the National Institute of Public Health selected,
in total, 14 var iations of war ning text that would appear on tobacco packaging, of which the most commonly pr inted text would be »Smok-
The commencement date of the »Project: White Label« in Brussels, 2003 with German C h a n c e l l o r A n ge l a Merkel to the right.
ing kills«. These war nings were then pr inted on one-third of cigarette packets in all EU countr ies. In addition, illustrations depicting lungs damaged by smoke ingestion and other jar r ing images intended to discourage consumers from purchasing tobacco products were pr inted in numerous EU-countr ies.
In 2000, an EU commissioned study reviewing the effects of the
1993 directive concluded that the package war nings had not had a signif icant effect on tobacco use. That same year an additional restr iction was enforced prohibiting tobacco companies from using the word »ligh« in context with tobacco consumption. However, most tobacco companies circumvented the ban by replacing the word »light« to »white«, quite ironic consider ing what was to come.
Three years on, in Febr uar y 2003, represent atives from EU pub-
lic health institutes, convened with chief politicians in Br ussels and star ted »Project: White Label« A 125-page proposal focusing on creating a smoke-free Europe by 2050 and proponing anti-design in order combat tobacco use was for mulated. Just two years later, in early 2005, 90% of cigarette packaging was covered with war nings and the following year logos and g raphic design on packaging was prohibited. The EU Health Commission had succeeded, all tobacco packaging in Europe was now completely white so as not to attract consumers with messages or appealing g raphics.
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From 2006, all tobacco packages in the EU, according to the law of »White Label«, had to be pure white. Although tobacco lobbyists’ protests.
A brief histor y about the »white label project«
of the health risks associated with the use of tobacco and smoking ces-
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M A N I F E S T O
Det omtalade manifestet ifrån 2006 (offentliggjort under 2007) med Angela Merkels och Barack Obamas signaturer på.
2 0 0 6
Companies that do not meet up to the new moral standards
that have been set (2006:100 158) shall be punished with a graphic anonymization.
This anonymization and anti-design aims to
prevent the deception of consumers and seeks to aver t consumers from making decisions which are contrar y to the new moral and ethical code. decisions which might result in the har ming the consumer and/or the ear th’s natural environment. * Only the colors black and white are allowed. * All photographs and illustrations are prohibited. * The font used is “Anonymous Sans”, specially developed for the project.
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A brief histor y about the »white label project«
»Project: White Label« was a tr iumph, within a year st atistics showed that the number of adolescents who st ar ted smoking had dropped by 10%. Dur ing 2006, anti-design advocates secretly worked on fur ther gover nmental ethic projects. The anti-design proponents would subsequently target the oil industr y. A conf idential manifesto, composed by a still anonymous commission of EU parliamentar ians, Amer ican democrats, and graphic designers, was wr itten down in two weeks in Br ussels outlining the following key points:
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A N O N Y M I Z A T I O N
2 0 0 7 – 2 0 0 8
In 2007 and 2008, the commission heavily attacked U.S.
American gas station, unknown company in 2007. The oil industry was after the tobacco industry the hardest »hit« by »White Labels’« anonymization punishment.
and European oil companies which were forced to comply with the new graphic manifesto. Additionally, other large corporations such as Coca Cola, McDonalds, Volvo and H & M were forced to apply anonymization after state investigations revealed that these companies’ operations, in par t, are responsible for the destr uction of the natural world, the exploitation of the third world, sexism and »general moral decay«.
Not until the respective companies were able to demon-
criteria, were the companies able to resume marketing with their original graphic profiles.
the white label and the font »Anonymous Sans”.
H&M store in Stockholm, 2008. Even the garment industry was punished hard by the new laws and standards, especially on the points that violated sexism, pollution and working conditions in the Third World.
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A brief histor y about the »white label project«
strate a change that lived up to the defined moral and health
Coca Cola bottle, 2008. Because of the health risks and costs attitude of the employees, even Coca Cola was puni s h e d b y t h e »W h i t e L a b e l « . H e re w e s e e
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P R O T E S T S & R E S U L T S
2 0 0 8 – 2 0 1 3
selves again attempted to skir t the new r ules. In 2008 and 2009, police seized tens of thousands of signs and decals, on which companies had added drop shadows on fonts, used gradients and ser ifs, or made use of all caps. These companies were punished with harsh penalties and were advised instead to follow the new guidelines set up as an incentive for regaining per mission to use their or iginal prof iles. A company that complied was H & M which in 2010 regained its visual identity, including its stylized ‘handwr itten’ red logo, as a result of increasing wages and thus improving life quality for its employees in Asia, renouncing the use of sexist marketing, and star ting to use fair-trade cotton and other textiles. Thanks to these refor ms, H & M then has stuck out amongst the crowd of other white-marked competitors in the gar ment industr y. The company showed record prof its in 2012.
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L o n d o n Po l i c e i n a crackdown on pubs that used the beer brand Carlsberg i l l ega l , warpade signs.
Picture from the police archives, seized L’Oréal bottle which added a drop shadow to the font.
A brief histor y about the »white label project«
Worldwide, market liberals were outraged and one such liberal claimed that the project resembled a »Stalinist playhouse.« The most extreme and widespread reactions came from in the U.S., where President Obama lost the president election due to »Project: White Label«. Even represent atives of the adver tising industr y, which was hard hit by cuts, took the streets in Europe and the U.S. in protest displaying large, over-designed placards cr iticizing the project. The companies them-
Protests in New York, 2009. The streets were outraged unemployed advertising agencies and graphic designers to protest against the project.