At the pharmacy checkout, only his inner voice is screaming / MATES HEALTHCARE "Chemist"

The problem

In the 1980s, Britain was facing the threat of HIV/AIDS. People knew condoms as a form of contraception, but their role in preventing sexually transmitted infections wasn't yet widely understood. Against that backdrop, Richard Branson launched the low-price brand "Mates" in 1987, and that November it aired Britain's first-ever TV ad for condoms.

The insight

There's an inherent embarrassment in the simple act of buying a condom. So rather than earnestly explaining the product's benefits, turning that embarrassment itself into comedy, head-on, is what makes people drop their guard and actually listen. The very structure of showing an unspoken inner voice as subtitles taps into another shared truth: "We all feel exactly this way, don't we?"

The idea

At the pharmacy counter, a young man is asked to repeat himself loudly by the clerk. His face burning with embarrassment, his true inner thoughts are revealed only to the audience, as subtitles on screen. Besides "Chemist," the campaign unfolded as a series capturing everyday moments, including "Restaurant," "Yes," "Carol," "Drinks," and "After."

What happened

The Mates campaign, including this ad, won Gold at Cannes Lions. It was later ranked 19th in Gunn Report's "100 Best Commercials of the 20th Century."

Afterthought

It's an ad for condoms, yet what's actually shown isn't the product or its benefits — just pure, simple embarrassment. But that single, focused idea is what gave it the power to bring a taboo subject into everyday conversation. The fact that a scene lasting less than 40 seconds is still being talked about nearly 40 years later is, quite simply, amazing.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 1988