Perhaps there’s no better symbol of the war between men and women than the toilet seat. The inconsiderate male leaves the seat up, not thinking of his female companion—or so the conventional pet peeve goes. But in this case, it’s the man who’s left angry and hurt. Even more unusual, the ad effectively promotes—albeit in offbeat fashion—London-based custom clothes tailor Mark Powell.
Titled "Dressed By," this spot opens on a man returning home. Upon entering his bathroom, he finds that the toilet seat has been left up. He’s infuriated because he’s certain he left the toilet seat down when he went to work in the morning, and the up-positioned toilet seat could only mean one thing…
His significant other walks into the bathroom and is immediately subject to his interrogation. "Why is the seat up? Why is the seat up?" the man shouts.
She hesitates before shooting back at him, "Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it does matter actually," he yells, "because when I left this morning, the seat was down. Why is it up?"
"You always leave the seat up," she retorts. "Calm down, it’s only a toilet seat. Did you have a bad day? Is that what this is about?"
As the argument grows heated, we see another man—the woman’s lover who left the seat up—in the bedroom. But despite the escalating tension in the bathroom, the man is slowly, calmly and deliberately putting on his sharp-looking tailor-made suit. Clearly, making a clean getaway isn’t as important as looking good.
We hear the couple continuing their argument. "Do you piss standing up?" the man demands. "Do you piss standing up? Answer me! Do you piss standing up?" As he corners the woman in the bathroom—his back to the door—we see the suit-wearing man casually walk past the bathroom doorway and make his escape out the front door.
As the suit-clad lover descends the apartment building staircase, a super identifies the man and tells us about his wardrobe: "Tom O’Grady, dressed by Mark Powell." The spot ends with the logo of custom tailor Mark Powell.
This European cinema ad was directed by Laurence Thrush and produced by bicoastal Headquarters. Thrush and Shelly Townsend, managing director of Headquarters, conceptualized and co-wrote the ad. It was one of three spots (the others being a PSA for Coaches Against Steroids and a spot promoting another London tailor, Timothy Everest) on which Thrush and Townsend worked together. Townsend took an interest in the body of public service spots conceived, directed and funded by Thrush over the past year-plus. The two began collaborating some six months ago, which eventually led to Headquarters signing Thrush (SHOOT, 9/5, p. 7).
Townsend executive produced for Headquarters, with Corina Dennison serving as producer. Production manager was Gelila Asres. The spot was shot on location in London by DP Gary Young.
Editor was Chaplin Early of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles. Beth Hagan produced for Rock Paper Scissors. Ben Looram of A52, Los Angeles, was the online editor. Colorist was Rajiv Bedi of Company 3, Santa Monica, with Trisha Wilson producing. Audio mixer was Eric Ryan of RavensWork, Venice, Calif. Music was composed by Ben Edwards via Expanding Records, London.
Neil Purcell, Ani Kempton and Tom O’Grady were the principal actors in the this spot. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or e-mailed.
