The Campaign

Taxes are a big issue in Sri Lanka as the Government regularly uses it as a budget remedy to generate income. For example, brand new vehicles are now taxed almost 340% of manufacturer’s price. And new taxes are being introduced all the time. Our task was to generate public interest in the sequel to a popular theatrical comedy by StageLightandMagic Inc about a fictitious Sri Lankan President, Pusswedilla. In order to effectively bring Hon. Puss (as he is affectionately known) to life in the public domain, we treated this 'president' as if he were real. A real president who does real things, such as introduce new taxes. So we introduced another absurd tax – this time on laughter - to arouse the interest of people. The idea was especially relevant because it was a comedy drama.

Success of the Campaign

The play was an unprecedented success, running for its scheduled 6 days at full house, and being performed an additional day in order to meet the extra demand. Extra tickets were sold online in less than an hour, with many people willing to pay 3 times the price of the ticket to watch it standing!

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

First The Laugh Tax was introduced to Sri Lanka in English and the 2 National Languages through ‘official notices’ started appearing at public places. The press picked up on the story as front page news coverage and articles started talking about the Laugh tax. Pusswedilla himself then appeared on Lanka Business News television programme where he explained the tax. The voice sounding like the Leader of The Opposition criticized all of this on radio. Key personalities affected by the Laugh Tax were then caught complaining. One comedy drama director even contemplated earning money at a popular transvestite pick up joint in Colombo. A leaked video of a highly rated TV comedy show host talking about ways to avoid the new tax was quickly followed by a public apology blaming a ‘malicious group’. Pusswedilla then declared the Lionel Wendt Theatre a Laugh Tax free zone and invited everyone to join him there. Even the Programme was an official looking Gazette on the Laugh Tax!