Il Manifesto’s chosen medium was Roman taxis, whose drivers are notorious for their recklessness behind the wheel. Indeed, if reading in the car can unsettle your stomach, reading in a Roman taxi can really make you lose your lunch; so sick bags similar to the ones found on airplanes were placed in taxis travelling around the city. The text played on the familiar idea that reading in the car can provoke nausea. In this case however, the cause of any nausea was not the taxi driver’s driving, but rather the content of the newspaper that the passenger was reading.

Given that reader retention and generation of interest were the primary business objectives of the campaign, it was gratifying that the operation resulted in the newspaper receiving high numbers of e-mails and phone calls of appreciation. Fifty sick bags were distributed and on average, for every bag in circulation, the editorial office received between nine and ten messages of thanks and congratulations. After only one day of the operation, the newspaper registered a 10% increase in sales.