'Points of View' award winning TV commercial from 1986
- Perception.Co
- Feb 24, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 5
The Guardian Newspaper's iconic and award winning 'Points of View’ TV commercial created by BMP DDB. An event seen from one point of view, gives one impression, while seen from another point of view you can get quite a different impression.
The Guardian Newspaper’s iconic and award-winning “Points of View” TV commercial, created by BMP DDB in 1986, remains one of the most celebrated pieces of British advertising for its brilliant demonstration of how perspective shapes truth. The advert opens with a dramatic street scene: a young, skin-headed man runs toward a businessman, appearing aggressive and threatening. From this single viewpoint, the audience naturally assumes we’re witnessing a mugging about to unfold.
But then the advert rewinds and shows the exact same moment from a second angle. Suddenly, the story shifts—the running man now appears to be shouting a warning, not a threat. Still, the event remains ambiguous. It rewinds a third time, revealing the wider context: a stack of bricks is about to fall onto the businessman, and the young man is actually rushing in to save him, not attack him.
With that final reveal, the message becomes strikingly clear:“An event seen from one point of view gives one impression; seen from another point of view, you can get quite a different impression.”
This clever narrative twist perfectly encapsulates The Guardian’s journalistic philosophy—its commitment to showing all sides of a story, providing context, and resisting snap judgements. The advert didn’t just promote a newspaper; it demonstrated, in cinematic form, why balanced reporting matters.
The campaign went on to win multiple awards, becoming a benchmark for storytelling in advertising and a lasting reminder that the truth often depends on seeing the whole picture.
