This :60 takes us to the Leavenworth Maximum Security Prison in the year 2070. A defense attorney identifies himself to a security guard. "A lawyer," says the guard. "He always wants to see lawyers."
The guard escorts the attorney through the prison catacombs to meet his mysterious client. The lawyer questions the guard, trying to get a better handle on the defendant. Walking through stark white corridors and then taking an escalator down to the bowels of the prison, the attorney gets bits of info and tries to piece them together. We too are drawn into the game of attempting to identify this alleged criminal mastermind.
"What is he? A drug dealer? Drunk driver? Murderer?" asks the lawyer.
"He killed eleven thousand people a day," responds the guard.
"That’s impossible," says the lawyer in disbelief, looking at a portable video screen with graphic images of the prisoner’s victims.
"He liked them young, thirteen to fourteen. Fed them poison loaded with an addictive drug; seduced them, lured them in. The poison ate away their bodies but the drug kept their brains hooked on it. When they got too old or died, he just went after other kids," explains the guard.
"Who caught him?" the lawyer queries.
"Don’t know," says the guard. "I guess someone finally figured it all out."
The lawyer appears puzzled. "How’d he get away with it for so long?"
"He ran a tobacco company," discloses the guard, who slides open a window on the door of a solitary confinement prison cell which reveals the tobacco executive. The spot ends with a supered graphic citing the aforementioned daily death toll of 11,000.
Shot on location in Los Angeles, the commercial provides a visually and mentally intriguing message. And it offers a bit of speculation on justice in the future—that tobacco executives may, as individuals, be held criminally responsible for their actions.
This anti-smoking PSA was conceived by Jackson, Miss.-based Maris, West & Baker Advertising, for client The Partnership For A Healthy Mississippi. The agency creative ensemble included creative director Eric Hughes, senior art director Kelsey Rickenbaker and copywriter Marc Leffler.
"Prisoner" was directed and shot by Ken Fox of bicoastal Villains. Robin Benson and Charlotte Inman served as executive producer and producer, respectively, for Villains.
The spot was edited by the mono-monikered Einar of Harley’s House Editorial, Santa Monica. Assistant editor was Charlie Sange. Online editor was Michael Blackburn, also of Harley’s House. Alex Brodie of Base 2, Santa Monica, served as Henry effects artist. John Bolen of Eleven, Santa Monica, was the audio mixer.
