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Photograph, Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac, 1955
Atelier Müller-BrockmannSerge Libiszewski
Photograph, Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac,
Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Serge Libiszewski,
*1007

Photograph, Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac,
1955

Atelier Müller-BrockmannSerge Libiszewski
*1007
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
Museum map
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
  • Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac Atelier Müller-Brockmann Serge Libiszewski Photograph
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Listen to the text
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Even though the harmful effects of smoking have been well-known for over fifty years, the ban on tobacco advertising across Switzerland remains patchy. On the other hand, when Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–1996) had his advertising banner for Turmac cigarettes installed in Zurich’s main railway station in 1955, he knew nothing about the hazards of smoking. Shortly afterward, however, he read about them and immediately drew the moral consequences.

At Zurich’s main station in the late 1950s, the Turmac cigarettes advertisement produced by Atelier Müller-Brockmann hung high above the track head. Young men and women holding cigarettes beamed down happily onto the pedestrians below. A modern lifestyle, with its corresponding graphic image, was the message here, with blown-up black-and-white photos of smokers in various sizes splashed across a banner together with the advertising slogan, printed in several languages in a red sans-serif font. Interrupted by the red Turmac logo in Arabesque style, it seemed to roll by like an American filmstrip. Smoking, which had long been reserved solely for men, had now become acceptable for the female sex as well—ever since the 1929 Lucky Strike campaign in New York that depicted ten notable society women lighting up a Lucky cigarette to help them “stay slender.” Nevertheless, in Switzerland, it took somewhat longer until women dared to smoke in public. For a long time, smoking’s harmful effects were unknown. When, in the late 1950s, Müller-Brockmann learned of the deadly consequences of tobacco consumption, he turned down any further commissions from Turmac. He composed a list of products for which he would not (or no longer) produce advertisements on moral grounds. These included tobacco, alcohol, war toys, weapons, property speculation, and party politics. His belief in the social responsibility of the graphic artist—who wishes to inform rather than to seduce—strengthened his resolve to turn away from purely commercial advertising. (Barbara Junod)

Dokumentarfotografie, Turmac, 1955
Fotografie: Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Zürich, CH / Serge Libiszewski
Auftrag: Turmac Turkish-Macedonian Tobacco Co., Zürich, CH
Material/Technik: Papierabzug, s/w-Fotografie
14.5 × 39.3 cm
Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Barbara Junod, «Kreation und Kommerz», in: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (Hg.), 100 Jahre Schweizer Grafik, Zürich 2014, S. 228.

Hartmut Berghoff (Hg.), Marketinggeschichte. Die Genese einer modernen Sozialtechnik, Frankfurt am Main 2007, S. 49–51.

Kerry William Purcell, Josef Müller-Brockmann, London 2006, S. 122–127.

Josef Müller-Brockmann, Mein Leben: Spielerischer Ernst und ernsthaftes Spiel, Baden 1994, S. 37–38.

Image credits

Dokumentarfotografie, Turmac, 1955, Fotografie: Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Zürich, CH / Serge Libiszewski
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Entwurf für Werbepaneel, De plus en plus Turmac Superfiltre, 1955, Gestaltung: Josef Müller-Brockmann, Fotografie: Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Filmnegativ (Entwurf für Werbepaneel), Turmac, 1955, Fotografie: Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Zürich, CH / Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Entwurf für Werbepaneel, Turmac, 1955, Gestaltung: Josef Müller-Brockmann, Fotografie: Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Entwurf für Werbepaneel, Turmac, 1955, Gestaltung: Josef Müller-Brockmann, Fotografie: Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Filmnegativ (Entwurf für Werbepaneel), Turmac, 1955, Fotografie: Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Zürich, CH / Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Werkaufnahme Werbepaneel Bahnhof Zürich, Turmac, 1955, Fotografie: Atelier Müller-Brockmann, Zürich, CH / Serge Libiszewski, Donation: Shizuko Yoshikawa (Archiv Josef Müller-Brockmann)
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Exhibition text
Atelier Müller-Brockmann – Consumer Advertising

Until around 1960, the Atelier Müller-Brockmann designed advertising not only for cultural offerings and the technical industry but also everyday consumer products such as Turmac cigarettes, Nestlé baby food, and Volg soft drinks. Commissions were accepted based on ethnical considerations with respect to the advertised products. So when Josef Müller-Brockmann learned of the harmful effects of smoking and the adverse impact of selling infant formula in developing countries, he revised his client list.