From "A New Year, A New Cuba" - The Ad Campaign of 03C

See how Cuban revolutionaries advertised their movement within an oppressive regime.

If you haven’t already, listen to “A New Year, A New Cuba” before continuing!

The 03C (Cero Tres C) movement was an underground effort to boycott the Cuban economy at the height of the holiday season in December of 1958. Organizers promoted this initiative through advertisements on the radio, presenting 03C as a shampoo or hair tonic. 03C ads also appeared in print media, not as a hair product, but as a mystery, provoking readers to seek out information about 03C for themselves.

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From the December 28, 1958 issue of Revista Bohemia, a Cuban magazine that historians argue was key to the collapse of the Batista regime. (Source: Digital Library of the Caribbean)

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From the December 23, 1958 issue of Diario de la Marina, Cuba’s longest-running newspaper at the time, dating back to 1839. Its readers tended to belong to Cuba’s middle and upper classes. (Source: Digital Library of the Caribbean)

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03C organizers also promoted their boycott through secretive pamphlets, distributed through channels that evaded Cuban police and Batista’s anti-revolutionary operatives. The image below is an unfolded pamphlet disguised on the outside as a 03C hair product advertisement.

Each panel is meant to represent one of the three C’s of the movement: cine (movies), compras (shopping), and cabaret (bars and dance clubs). The illustration on the left shows movie times listed in a newspaper, with revolutionaries mid-battle in the background. The center image depicts Cubans out shopping for Christmas, overshadowed by a pair of shackled hands. And on the right, people dine out while a 26th of July Movement soldier is shot in the chest.

A three-panel 03C pamphlet emphasizing the need for a boycott. (Source: Ernesto Chávez Collection, University of Florida)

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Special thanks again to Lillian Guerra for directing us to all of this material. If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out at historythisweek@history.com. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our Substack below!

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