'Kim Jong-un' and 'Vladimir Putin' Star in Hard-Hitting Deepfake Campaign for RepresentUs

Zach Math has collaborated with Greg Hahn of Mischief At No Fixed Address and RepresentUs on series of viral films highlighting the fragility of democracy and what’s at stake in this year’s US election. To get this message across as bluntly as possible, the companies enlisted Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un who put in surprisingly first-rate performances via deepfake technology. 

The ads are live on social media and every effort is being made to get them back on air after they were pulled by the US networks' legal teams (CNN,FOX, NBC etc… ), prior to the first ‘debate’.

The nonpartisan campaign aims to unite disenfranchised Americans against the common enemy of misinformation and corruption, during what is already an extremely partisan and bitterly fought election.

Zach cast actors to voice the spots who had the right tone and physical features to complement the deepfake image overlay which was applied live in the casting sessions. Then with infinite attention to detail, Zach and the team recreated hair styles and padded clothing to match body weight. The foreground sets were built and lit to blend seamlessly with the background plates.

“There is so much noise in this political environment that people can be overwhelmed and left feeling it’s all out of their hands, there's nothing they can do,” concluded Greg Hahn, co-founder and CCO at Mischief. “Apathy is actually the intent of the noise. It was really critical to cut through all of that in a way that provokes."