The company that told its brand to FCUK off

By ARIFA AKBAR

A fashion label that inspired a generation of teenagers to wear the misspelt obscenity FCUK across their chests is dropping the acronym in a more subtle advertising campaign this season - with no logo at all.

The iconic slogan for clothing chain, French Connection, which captured the youth market, attracted the ire of parents, advertising watchdogs and judges and transformed the fortunes of the company, will be omitted in a new £3m (NZ$8.3m) advertising campaign.

The move has come amid claims that the FCUK logo has become tired and over-used, with the company's share prices dropping by 8 per cent last month. Experts say the latest campaign is an attempt to invigorate the label. The original FCUK campaign has courted controversy since it launched in 1997. Only last month, the company was ordered to have its posters vetted for the next two years after the industry watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, upheld a complaint about "offensive" language on them.

The British Advertising Standards Authority received 27 complaints straight after the logo's launch while the American department stores Macy's and Bloomingdales briefly banned products with the slogan from their shelves.

Mr Justice Rattee called it a "tasteless and obnoxious" acronym in a court case in 1999, while another judge who sent home a juror for wearing the logo in court.

Under the new campaign, which is launched next month, the FCUK logo will be replaced by a series of ironic, self-referential phrases such as 'Don't make us say it', 'Something beginning with F' and 'Haven't you had enough influences for one day?', with no other clues as to which brand they represent.

A one-minute "anti-marketing" television and cinema advert, featuring denim-clad youths on a road -trip across the desert, will incorporate an ironic voice-over which asks the questions, 'Where do you think you're going?' and 'You weren't influenced by the advert, were you?'.

The advert, described as a "satire on advertising" by its creators, will end with the phrase 'Don't you just hate being influenced by the great big offensive logo at the end?" before it ends with a blank black screen.

The London advertising agency, TBWA, is pushing to have it featured on the BBC as a 3-minute short film. Last month, Drapers Record, regarded as the industry bible for the fashion world, published a brutal attack on the FCUK brand, describing it as "tired and tacky".

The publicist, Mark Borkowski, said the new promotion was a way to refresh the label in the face of competitors who were imitating the original campaign.

"The FCUK campaign has been legendary and lots of people are mimicking the idea so they have to refresh it. It has engaged people but we have got used it. It needs to be replenished and that is what they are doing. You need to refresh all the time. It's getting more and more difficult for people to market things ... I think what they are doing is very brave and risky," he said.

Trevor Beattie, TBWA's chairman, said this would be the first time in the history of advertising a company had "dared not to speak its name."

"FCUK is one of the few brands inextricably linked with advertising ... People have bought into the attitude, which represents an anti-fashion victim, tongue-in-cheek attitude ... In marketing terms, this brand is so notorious, it does not need to tell of its name," he said.

He dismissed reports that there had been growing concern over the logo's failing consumer lure and stressed FCUK merchandise will still be available in the stores alongside clothing with the non-branded phrases on them.


- INDEPENDENT