Campari Posters: A Century of Brilliant Advertising Design

Few brands have treated poster design as consistently seriously as Campari. Across the twentieth century, its advertising moved through radically different visual languages while remaining recognisably bold.

Leonetto Cappiello

Cappiello helped redefine modern advertising with isolated, memorable figures and intense colour designed to register instantly on a busy street. His work for drinks brands became part of the visual language of European advertising.

Campari between art and commerce

The interesting thing about Campari's archive is not one fixed house style. Different artists were allowed to interpret the product through the design language of their own period.

Celestino Piatti

By the mid-twentieth century, posters such as Piatti's Campari Soda work could be flatter, more graphic and more playful — a different solution to exactly the same problem: make somebody look.

Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser's 1992 Campari poster brings another generation of graphic thinking to the brand. It is unmistakably later than Cappiello, which is precisely why the wider history is so interesting.

Collect the exact poster, not just the brand

Campari imagery has been reproduced extensively. Establish the physical poster's date, artist, dimensions and edition rather than assuming that an old design means an old sheet.

Our food and drink poster buying guide and authenticity guide explain what to check.

A century of Campari posters is effectively a century-long lesson in how commercial art changes while the product stays put.

Explore the posters featured above: Campari Cappiello · Campari Milton Glaser · Campari L'Aperitivo · Bitter Campari. You can also explore our collecting guide, authenticity guide, condition guide and framing guide.