Full Bleed
One passage in the forthcoming book from Taschen “A History of Advertising” tells the story of the meat heroes from Leo Burnett. In 1940 the company won the account of The American Meat Institute. After the win (it’s first with a million-dollar budget), three of the agency’s staffers drove coast-to-coast in the LB truck to determine the best way to get their countrymen to sharpen their incisors. With the nation distracted by war, Leo Burnett launched a courageous print campaign aiming to win the hearts and stomaches of Americans. Placing images taken by legendary food photographer Harney Isham Willaims against a deep red background the campaign even coined a now common printing term. “What would happen if you put a piece of red meat on a red background?” asked Leo Burnett. “This was inherent drama,” he said. “It just intensified the red concept and the virility we were trying to express about meat.” While the above ad showing a standing rib roast of prime beef from the effort is a looker, it’s one of the more restrained spots from the campaign. Others again and again repeated the word “Meat” as a headline, with feverish obsession. From 1944 to 1947 Burnett ran the ads, printed “full-bleed” (this is the origin of the term) in all their scarlet glory with no white frame around them, in newspapers and magazines.
