Steinlen - Le Coupable. Roman inédit de François Coppée
The pattern
This still is filed under Price-anchoring offer.
Define
A higher reference number is shown first so the real price reads as a concession, not as a starting bid.
Mechanism
People judge a price against the first number they see. The anchor must be a real comparison or it collapses.
Verdict
We have a credible reference the buyer will accept
Why it works
The price is the first and last thing set in the heaviest weight, which is a direct-response move on a poster that otherwise looks like art: the objection being answered is cost, not interest. The picture withholds the story rather than telling it, so the boy, the clogs and the reformatory on the ridge pose a question the headline word COUPABLE only sharpens, and only the paper can answer it. Red is used exactly three times - the title, the word INÉDIT and the signature - so the two commercial claims and the artist's credit are tied together and everything else stays quiet. The author line is set as large as the paper's own name, borrowing an Académie française reputation to underwrite a cheap daily.
Steal this when
Steal this when you are selling a periodical, a series or a subscription on the strength of one instalment, and the instalment has a name worth more than yours. Lead with the price in the heaviest type, make the picture ask the question rather than answer it, and give the borrowed name a display line of its own.