Powershop has a thing for dictators. The company’s previous ad campaigns have featured Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong-Un. The company apologised for offending people with its ‘Chairman Mao’ campaign, which featured Mao Tse Tung, a man who had millions of people killed.
Powershop regularly toes the line between humour and offense–the image the company released in support of same-sex marriage, for example–but this time the company’s being a little more cautious.
“That’s why we’ve created this fictitious character, The General,” says Powershop chief executive Ari Sargent.
“It is so obviously a parody that hopefully people will find the humour in it rather than being offended.”
The campaign, ‘The General’, features a dictator with many wives who loves both his power and his power company. It appears to be inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy film, The Dictator.
Or, as The General himself says while waving a gold pistol around, “a regular, everyday guy”.
The spot was made by DoubleFish and filmed in Thailand.
Credits:
Agency: DoubleFish
John Fisher – Art Director
Ken Double – Copywriter
Director: Tim Bullock, Prodigy Films
Agency Producer: Juliet Dreaver
