Putney Swope

When Putney Swope, the lone Black executive on the board of a Madison Avenue ad agency, is accidentally elevated to the chairmanship after the death of the firm’s boss, he turns the business upside down. Refusing to play by the same rules that kept him sidelined, Swope fires the old guard, renames the agency, rejects racist and exploitative clients, and launches a series of wildly subversive, candid ad campaigns that expose the hypocrisies of corporate America. His abrupt, uncompromising leadership provokes both admiration and chaos as the agency’s newfound moral clarity collides with the profit-driven world around it.

The film is a raucous, surreal satire that mixes slapstick, absurdist imagery, and pointed social critique to skewer advertising, consumer culture, and racial double standards. Its improvisational energy and bold visual style mirror Swope’s radical reinvention of the agency, while incisive humor and sharp dialogue force viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about power and representation. Equal parts provocative and anarchic, the movie remains a daring cultural critique that still feels fresh and unsettling decades after its release.