BBH campaigns to rescue gold from the legacy of the 80s.(Bartle Bogle Hegarty designs campaign for World Gold Council)(Brief Article)

The image of wideboys with chunky gold jewellery dripping from their bodies may soon be consigned to its rightful place in stereotype history, if the 39 million [pounds sterling] global push by the World Gold Council to reclaim gold's fashionable image gets its way.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which was appointed in January to the task of halting gold's slide downmarket, has unveiled a campaign positioning gold as a warm, almost spiritual, experience, far removed from images of second-hand car dealers and macho men.

However, persuading consumers to take another look at gold will be tough, and nowhere tougher than in the UK. Gold may have ended the 1970s as a symbol of prestige, status and wealth, but the era of the yuppie served to reduce it to a byword for crassness and vulgarity.

"Gold has been tarnished by the 80s and the used-car-salesman image," Rosie Arnold, the art director on the account, says. "In the 80s, it was a symbol of achievement. People started wearing it and it became more and more ostentatious."

The situation wasn't helped by various products and brands cashing in on the cheap prestige associated with gold. A spate of credit cards, breakfast cereals and butter substitutes further distanced the once-precious metal from its association with taste and style.

Now, with the aid of BBH, The Gold Council is hoping to make gold synonymous with natural beauty, sensuality and spirituality. The strategy has changed, and the council is trying to create an aspirational place where the buyer wants to go. It is hoping to take the precious metal back to basics by repositioning it as an attitude, rather than a fashion accessory.

Historically, after all, gold is the ...