Monsavon au lait
Monsavon1949
Monsavon au lait is a 1949 lithographic poster for Monsavon.
Why it works
A cow, a bar of soap and the sight gag that made Raymond Savignac. Monsavon's selling point was the milk in its soap, so he took the shortest route between the two: a cheerful pink-and-white cow whose udders empty straight into a giant bar of the product. As he later explained, he simply thought of soap for the brand and a cow for the milk. Savignac, once Cassandre's assistant, was still unknown at 41; France's national museum database records that L'Oréal's chief spotted the design at a 1949 exhibition Savignac shared with Bernard Villemot. It is studied as a model of the single-idea visual joke, understood in a second with barely a word, and as proof that a poster could be funny and still sell. The Guardian's obituary called it a visual scandal. It launched his fame: Savignac liked to say he had been born at 41 from the Monsavon cow's udder, and he went on to design more than 600 advertising posters.
Techniques
- Visual metaphor A cow whose udders empty straight into a giant bar of soap shows the milk ingredient in one picture, grasped in a second with barely a word.
- Humour The cheerful pink-and-white cow turns the selling point into a sight gag, proof that a poster can be funny and still sell.
Sources · 3
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