Home » Corpses, Coffins & Flatulence! These Aussie Constipation Ads Are As Hilarious As They Are Totally Twisted

6 September, 2021

Corpses, Coffins & Flatulence! These Aussie Constipation Ads Are As Hilarious As They Are Totally Twisted

There’s nothing too funny about a bad dose of constipation, so it’s hats off to Actor Pharma’s laxative brand, Prunelax, for having some terrific fun in its latest campaign.

The two spots – called “Casket” and “Buried” – are the work of independent agency Five by Five Global and certainly take a unique perspective on being clogged-up.

The irreverent campaign, made in partnership with director Armand de Saint-Salvy, Vandal & Helium Film launches with the first two spots of a five-part iteration, rolling out across Youtube, Digital, BVOD & social.

“Casket” sees a beloved grandmother wake from the dead during her own funeral with hilarious results. While “Buried” is all the more macabre as we see a woman disposing of a body in the bush.

Check out the wonderful weirdness below:

Five By Five’s ECD Craig Bailey said the campaign sets out to inform consumers that Prunelax is on another level for the relief of constipation. The ‘Relief’ spots were developed against a strategy hell-bent on driving awareness by cutting through the sanitised health category in a major pivot from traditional pharmaceutical advertising.

Bailey said: “Taking a brief asking for a campaign that will ‘ruffle some feathers’ is always accepted with cautious optimism. In this case: brave client? Tick. Audacious strategy? Tick. Our mandate to create a campaign communicating that you don’t know true relief, until you’ve tried Prunelax, wilfully manifested into this unapologetically amusing work.”

He continued: “Most of the time outrageous creative ideas don’t survive the first cut, but our client was bang up for it based on our agreed strategy. No-one has approached the subject of constipation in this way before and it takes a great agency/client relationship to make that happen. We’re inordinately proud of this campaign.”

The campaign uses a bold cinematic style to disarm viewers and help Prunelax authentically own the feeling of relief. The first two spots to lead the charge – ‘Buried’ & ‘Casket’ – both strive to live up to the art of ‘the unexpected twist’.

Bailey said while these were the first of five spots, the same irreverent, humorous approach would be built upon in future executions, “to further reinforce that Prunelax is the custodian of true relief.”

Actor Pharma’s marketing manager Donna Jacobson added: “We’re living in a strange time with a lot of noise in the media; so it was imperative to find the right agency to help us cleave through it all – Five by Five just got ‘us’ and what we wanted to achieve. We are very excited to launch the Relief campaign, to help us build awareness of Prunelax as the preferred natural laxative brand.”

Credits:

Client: Actor Pharma

Marketing Manager: Donna Jacobson

Creative Agency: Five by Five Global

Strategy Director: Matt Lawton

Executive Creative Director: Craig Bailey

Creative: Craig Bailey

Creative: Nick Donovan

Client Director: Marc Grantham

Production Manager: Amar Narula

Account Manager: Lois Vega

Account Executive: Rukiya Ahad

Production Company: helium.film

Director: Armand de Saint-Salvy

DOP: Jordan Maddocks

Executive Producer: Brenden Johnson

Producer: Benjamin O’Donnell

Casting: Fountainhead Casting

Post Production: Vandal

Editor: Armand de Saint-Salvy

Grading: Marcus Timpson

Flame: Phil Stuart Jones

Sound Design: Nigel Crowley

Music composition: Subvert.tv

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