ABSTRACT
‘Chicago would like to remind you that the first four letters of its name are Chic’ (cited Lawson, 1989, p. 68). Thus read one of a series of monochrome advertisements which began to appear in high quality glossy periodicals from mid-1989. They were soon joined by a series of TV commercials on the same theme. With an under-statement that is rare in American television advertising, each of these commercials showed, also in black and white, a brief clip of electric blues, or ballet, or other cultural activities. They closed simply with a link to the name Chicago. There was, unusually, no insistent voice-over to punch home the sales message.
