The beauty of politics

Egypt – Micropolitics is a new advertising campaign that humorously encourages political engagement from an otherwise disenfranchised Egyptian population.

• Suzy’s Beauty Salon is half of a two-part video campaign to be released by news organisation Mada Masr
• Mada Masr is an editorial platform that is billed as ‘untouched by political biases and affiliations’

The viewer is welcomed into Suzy’s, a pink-hued beauty salon in which the working atmosphere is anything but rosy. The salon’s main hairdresser, Nazli, is missing, while Salma cuts hair but refuses to shampoo, leaving Loulou to do it – for which Salma ignores her ‘inventory misappropriation’.

Egypt has experienced a chequered political history, culminating in the Arab Spring of 2010/2011, which has led to widespread feelings of disenfranchisement as people have become frustrated with the lack of change.

Mada Masr hopes to encourage greater political engagement by comparing the bureaucracy and corruption in the workplace to the presumably greater amounts in Parliament. ‘The campaign aims to renew the quickly diminishing interest in political affairs in once-committed and involved citizens,’ Gautam Wadher, JWT Dubai creative director, told AdFreak.