Jamie Reid archive

This small banner poster was designed by Jamie Reid in order to promote the Sex Pistols' film, and accompanying soundtrack, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. It uses the symbolic shape and fluorescent colour of the "special offer" flash, often seen in shop windows. This was an element of Reid's earlier anarchic work for the Suburban Press and the Situationist International, and here, subverted commercial and capitalist advertising strategies to promote an album by a group of anarchists.

Jamie Reid's cut-and-paste aesthetic, as seen on this poster, developed from his interest in radical politics. His artistic style developed while at art college in Croydon, where he was influenced by the ideas of the avant-garde political group, the Situationist International. The political slant to his art was aroused by the May 1968 Paris student riots, which inspired fraternal protests organised by Reid at the Croydon College of Art. These were directed with fellow student Malcolm McLaren, who would later become the manager of the Sex Pistols.