A Beautiful, Excellent Ad From Axe Body Wash, Of All Things

In my quest to find those few advertisements out there that are not annoying, but are well-crafted, get-you-in-the-gut emotional, artistic and memorable, you'd never guess where I found one this week.

Why is this "North Korean leader" smirking?
Watch the ad below and find out. 

It came from Axe.

Yep, Axe bodywash and cleaning products for men, that sometimes maligned product that supposedly appeals to Bros, young guys who think they are Hot Shit.

The ad, which you can see at the bottom of this post,  doesn't explicitly promote Axe. Instead the company appears to be participating in a project that promotes world peace.  They ask that you "Share Kiss For Peace."

The ad is apparently going to be Axe's Super Bowl offering.

The ad, with its artful cinemetography and simple musical score, shows us scenes that evoke the worst of the world's hatred, war and oppression. You watch it and think Chechnya. Vietnam. North Korea. Middle Eastern terrorists.

The tension builds as things appear headed toward a violent head. The "North Korean leader" is rallying his troops. A tank takes aim at a lone, brave young woman in "Chechnya." Helicopters, with soldiers bearing assault weapons, swoop down on scared families in "Vietnam." The "Middle Eastern terrorist leader" is about to detonate a huge bomb, or so it seems.

Then....well, watch the ad (Which frankly brought tears to my eyes) and marvel: