Thatcher ‘bombshell’ advert rejected as PR offensive
The release of National Archive information has revealed that Royal Navy recruiters planned to use Margaret Thatcher’s face alongside the words ‘the bombshell that hit the Armilla patrol’.
The advert, put forward by advertising company Young and Rubicam, sought to exploit the success of Thatcher’s August 1988 visit to the Navy's Armilla patrol in the Gulf.
However, the Central Office of Information (COI) battled with the recruiters before getting the adverts banned two hours before they were to be released.
Three other advert proposals were made available in the Archives.
The first reads ‘Rambo. Wimpo. We steer a course between the two’; the second ‘We made our presence felt without firing a shot’; and the third a conversation reading "Ceasefire, chaps." "How can we sir? We haven't fired a shot."
The third advert was turned down by officials because it made the officer look like an idiot.