Medusa tamed in new campaign for Citroen C5

The 30-second spot, called "angry family" breaks next week and shows a family at a crowded shopping mall as tempers fray. However, instead of appearing as a normal family, the mother has the head of Medusa and the father the head of a monster, and they are accompanied by their children who appear as two snarling dogs.

To the tune 'A Minha Menina' by Isle of Wight band The Bees, the monstrous family make their way to their car. Once inside they start to relax and, as the mother turns on the air conditioning, her snake-like tresses recede and a normal looking woman appears. Similarly the father turns into a handsome man. The two snarling dogs are revealed to be, in fact, angelic little girls.

The family drives off with sanity restored -- until a squeegee man tries to clean their windscreen. The ad finishes with the words "engineered to relieve stress".

The creative team on the ad was Steve Nicholls and Matthew Anderson. It was directed by Colin Gregg through Stark Films. Media planning and buying for the campaign was by OMD.

Mike Ibbett, marketing director at Citroen, said: "'Angry family' is an ad with strong execution and impact, the hero is definitely the car, giving it a feeling of modernity and improved image within a very competitive market. There is no doubt as a result of this new ad that the C5 will become more mainstream, modern and advanced."

The campaign will run for two weeks on national television with further activity due to appear throughout the year.

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