Relevance rewarded : ‘Louie, the Fly’ turns 50

Marketing often relies on dazzling experiential, visual and auditory advertising images to brand and persuasively promote products. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a critical experiential, visual and auditory analysis of the ‘Louie the Fly’ imagery, given the central role of these types of images in marketing communications. The analysis of the ‘Louie the Fly’ imagery used in Mortein’s® advertisements found that although the imagery had been modified during the life of the campaign to meet changing consumer expectations brought about by technological advances, the fundamental thematic imagery conveyed a strong persuasive message to consumers through all the campaigns. The central character, Louie, has retained his appeal during his 50 year lifespan. ‘Louie the Fly’ advertisements have successfully used contextually effective imagery to achieve brand recognition for Mortein®.