Manuel Malagrida - Els “Cigarrillos París”
By Charlotte Stace
The Olot entrepreneur Manuel Malagrida i Fontanet (1864–1946) founded the most important tobacco company in Argentina. One of the secrets of his success was the use of innovative advertising strategies. His most famous campaign was the international poster competition to publicize Los Cigarillos París (The Paris Cigarettes).
This poster competition was announced in December 1900, with a prize fund of 22,000 francs. Most of the original prize-winning entries, created by the world’s best designers at the time, were kept at the Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa, in Olot.
This exhibition aims to explain the language of advertising in the early twentieth century through its display of the most significant poster entries to the competition. It will also explore how this medium, thanks to its unique iconography, reveals realities from the period such as conditions for women, social classes, childhood, progress and more.