The Notorious Abu Ismail

— Spoof ad campaign for Hazem Salah Abou Ismail, an Islamist candidate for the Egyptian presidency —

Candidates for elections do crazy stuff, and most of them enjoy some kinds of publicity stunts. But some candidates are so relentless, so ubiquitous, so larger than life that their campaigns eventually take lives of their own on the web. (Remember Pierre Hashash?)

A case in point is Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail, a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, whose epic poster campaign reverberated widely on the web and spawned many spoofs (like the ad above) and even a dedicated spoof blog. Keep your eye on this one, as this could prove to be an important reminder that web notoriety does not necessarily translate into votes.