We are constantly encouraged to buy stuff we don’t really want, ideally without thinking about it. The Airfix Red Stripe era was peak Mad Men and our young consumer was up against some serious marketing. But in those days, it wasn’t confronting us in every single waking moment.
A long-running perfume ad campaign went on about how men in particular “can’t help acting on impulse”, but the sensory cues coaxing us into impulse buying model aeroplanes were definitely visual. Overdramatic box art really came into its own – if an exotic aircraft wasn’t tempting enough on its own, all sorts of mayhem would be going on in the background.
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