For the past two years Migros Mode has been advertising its fashions using people like you and me. Migros Mode’s fashions purposely feature models that aren’t models. Heidi Miller, not Heidi Klum. Kate Moser instead of Kate Moss. Ordinary people, in other words, with ordinary jobs.

In autumn 2007 we advertised for candidates who at the time were seeking election to Switzerland’s national parliament. Politicians are also people like us, after all!

By putting out calls at party summits we obtained very many expressions of interest from national parliamentary candidates wanting to advertise themselves on hoardings wearing Migros underwear; these we whittled down to seven. The posters were circulated two weeks before the elections, so that they were seen during the closing stages of the hustings. Our candidates could be seen wearing next-to-nothing in the midst of other conventional and rather tedious election posters.

The fashion sector is experiencing mounting competition, with a glut of stores offering fashions, branded or otherwise, at cut-throat prices. Moreover, Migros traditionally suffers from an un-hip image amongst young people. Migros was therefore looking for a novel way of capturing their imagination. The campaign’s effect was amplified by large numbers of media keen to cover the campaign story. Suddenly Migros stopped being a boring, old-fashioned outlet.