A former advertising copywriter was astonished to discover that a billboard poster he designed 40 years ago is still hanging in a prominent position inside Charing Cross tube station.
Mick Sands, 65, is now a film writer but in 1984 was working for an advertising agency which had the account to promote a hayfever spray – and the campaign he dreamed up for it led to hundreds of posters on billboards around the UK.
But Mr Sands was dumbfounded this week to notice, as he got on the London Underground at the station, that one of those posters is still on display there, exactly 40 years since it was first put up.
The poster, which depicts a garden gnome using a hay fever repelling nasal spray, remains in remarkably good condition – as it’s under a plastic cover and away from any natural light.
The tag line on the advert reads ‘Otrivine. Specialist in nose care’.
Mr Sands told : ‘I was part of the creative team who worked on a poster campaign for Otrivine in 1984.
‘I was working for a West End agency called Leagas Delaney which had the Otrivine account.
‘Gnomes are kept in the garden all the time, so we chose to have a gnome surrounded by flowers.
‘The poster went up around town and I do remember it being placed in Charing Cross underground station in the mid 1980s.’
Mick said he remembers this specific poster because he would often pass the advert on his commute from his home in Tunbridge Wells in Kent via Charing Cross to the Leagas Delaney offices which were then in nearby Covent Garden.
‘Back in the eighties I remember often passing that Charing Cross poster on my way to the office.
‘And I do recall once finding it was still there after 20 odd years but I hadn’t been past it for ages until the other day – and I can’t believe it’s still there now
‘It is now 40 years since it was first put up.
‘I’ve no idea why it has never been replaced as the campaign ended so long ago.
‘I can’t believe the makers of Otrivine are still paying for the site. Perhaps it has just been forgotten about. ‘
Mick added: ‘I’m sure that the thousand of people who must pass it every day have no idea that it went up as long ago as the eighties.’
The Otrivine nasal spray is manufactured by the Haleon company who have UK offices in Weybridge, Surrey.
A modern equivalent of the product advertised still exists but its packaging design has since changed.
Its other brands include Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil pain relief tablets.
The advertising campaign featuring the gnome at other locations is thought to have come down after the few months that the agency paid for – except at the location under The Strand.
Quite why the poster has never been removed remains something of a mystery with neither the Underground, the agency or the makers of the spray apparently knowing the answer.
Transport for London, which runs the tube, said they don’t control this particular poster site and suggested it might be owned by Westminster Council or Network Rail.
has approached both but they have yet to respond.
The ad agency, which is now based in Shaftesbury Avenue, has also been approached.
Pharmaceutical company Haleon, the makers of Otrivine, were unaware about the curious survival of the poster until we alerted them this week.
A spokesman said: ’Unfortunately we don’t have a record of when the contract for the advertising space ended, but we’ll happily take the ad back for archiving purposes.
‘The ad is a great reminder of how our long-standing Otrivine brand has evolved over the years.’
Transport Media, who handle adverts on the underground system, tell prospective advertisers that their produced can be seen buy up to 150,000 people an hour.
Ad campaigns today can cost from £1,500 to upwards of £60,000 for a two-week period with many equivalent sites now digital.
A spokesman for Tfl and Haleon have been contacted for comment.