If you've ever had the misfortune of working under an immoral, irrational or just plain incompetent boss, you'll appreciate these clever management training ads.
In three new videos, actors—gently described in the clips as "everyday"—deliver their best impressions of terrible supervisors. The hammy performances range from simply cringe-inducing to comically absurd, with highlights like one employee begging a musclebound manager not to free his abs from his shirt as part of some imbecilic lesson in accounting.
But the real payoff comes in the twist endings.
A nice mix of cathartic and practical, the ads were created to promote the Centre for Workplace Leadership, a management research and education organization based at the University of Melbourne and funded by the Australian government.
Director John Pace wrote and shot the spots, which feature a relaxed, behind-the-scenes vibe that ultimately adds authenticity to the message. And while the yelling-and-screaming gag has more than worn thin by the third episode, each conclusion adds enough unique insight to the general takeaway that it's reasonable to have multiple versions.
It's perfectly acceptable, though, for that one woman to be super angry about her missing yogurt—though it'd be more understanble if it were pretty much any food other than yogurt.
