Windsurfing was always a very popular sport in Italy. And, apparently, Italian politicians thought it was a good idea to use it as a marketing tool.
Political campaign commercials are usually dull and boring. Why? Because they all communicate vague promises and when the circus is over, you end up with nearly nothing.
However, sometimes, you get a treat; you're surprised by an unconventional way of telling you what politicians plan to do when they sit in the chair of power.
In 1992, Italians had a general election with more than 25 candidates, parties, movements, and coalitions competing for 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party - in Italian, "Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano" (PSDI) - decided to promote their leader Antonio Cariglia, and their ideas, with an unusual television commercial.
Titled "Always on the Right Track," the campaign ad featured an animated drawing of a young man on a windsurfer, riding a wave, cutting back, jumping off the back a wave, and sailing away towards the sunset on the horizon.
Simultaneously, a voice off camera speaks about the difficulties in balancing, maintaining stability, and keeping the right course, according to the rules.
Did it work? Was the windsurfing commercial truly effective? Well, as politicians like to say: "It depends."
In the end, the Christian Democracy won the elections with 29.66 percent of the votes, and the "Italian windsurfers' party" was the tenth party with only 2.71 percent of the votes.
Discover the best windsurfing commercials of all time.