Malwarebytes launched 'Protection You Can Trust' in 2023, a surreal comedy campaign starring a fake prince and a reckless clicker to demystify cyber threats
ARCHIVEMalwarebytes Turns Cyber Threats Into Comedy With Protection You Can Trust
Malwarebytes launched 'Protection You Can Trust' in March 2023, a two-film campaign produced by Los Angeles creative studio Florence and directed by Harry Deadman that uses rapid-fire surrealistic comedy to transform familiar cyber threats — phishing scams and reckless clicking — into memorable characters, demonstrating how the Malwarebytes platform scans, cleans, and protects devices across the United States.
The campaign centres on two films: 'Prince-ish' and 'Ms. Clicks.' The first introduces a brazen imposter prince who revels in the audacity of his fraud, daring the viewer to catch him in the act — a direct nod to the Nigerian prince email phishing scam that has persisted as one of the most recognisable tropes in internet security culture. The second film follows Ms. Clicks — short for Ms. Clicks on Things She Shouldn't — as she manically chases every internet rabbit hole available to her, from chain letters and fake sweepstakes to click-bait links that seed her device with malware, Trojan horses, and computer viruses. Together, the two characters represent the dual vectors through which digital safety is most commonly compromised in the United States: external threat actors and unwitting user behaviour.
Malwarebytes Creative Director Kevin Thomson articulated the campaign's strategic premise plainly, stating that the internet simply cannot be trusted to protect its users and that the brand exists to remove that anxiety. The films ran across film, digital, and direct media channels, reaching US consumers where their exposure to ransomware, phishing, and antivirus decisions is most acute. Coverage of the campaign was published by Shots on March 23, 2023, cementing its profile within the global creative industry. 'Protection You Can Trust' earns a Clapboard Score of 72 out of 100, reflecting strong creative distinctiveness and category relevance against a standard of measurable impact.
ARCHIVEMalwarebytes built 'Protection You Can Trust' on a consumer insight that competitor brands have historically underused: most people are not afraid of abstract malware or ransomware — they are embarrassed by the mundane moments that let those threats in. The campaign targets that embarrassment directly, transforming it into comedy and removing the stigma from digital safety conversations in the United States.
The US cybersecurity software market provides significant commercial context for this strategic choice. IDC reported worldwide endpoint-security revenue of $21.6 billion in 2023, according to Business Wire, underscoring the scale of the category Malwarebytes competes in. The global cybersecurity market reached approximately $182.9 billion in 2023 and was growing at an 11.4 percent compound annual rate through 2028, according to BCC Research, with consumer-facing software representing a meaningful and fast-expanding segment of that total. In the United States specifically, competition at the consumer antivirus and internet security level is dominated by incumbents including Norton and McAfee, both of which have historically leaned on fear-based messaging around cyber threats, computer viruses, and Trojan horses to drive acquisition.
Malwarebytes chose the opposite register. By casting digital safety as something relatable and even funny, the brand positions itself as the antivirus choice for users who feel overwhelmed rather than technically empowered — a psychographic that is broad and underserved across the US market. This approach also continues a strategic thread established by the brand's earlier 'Only Human' campaign in 2020, developed by UP THERE, EVERYWHERE, which similarly centred human fallibility as the entry point for cybersecurity conversation, according to Clapboard's archive. 'Protection You Can Trust' sharpens that positioning into more overt comedy, signalling a confident creative evolution rather than a wholesale strategic reset.
Harry Deadman directed both films in the 'Protection You Can Trust' campaign. Deadman is known for bold color palettes and fanciful art direction, qualities that Florence — the culture-driven Los Angeles production company — deployed deliberately to make the everyday anxiety of internet security feel visually alive and tonally distinct from the category's conventions. The result is production work that reads closer to absurdist character comedy than traditional antivirus advertising.
The production credits for 'Protection You Can Trust' are publicly documented in full. Agency producer Mark Tobin and executive producer Ned Brown oversaw production, with Tom Davies serving as line producer. Editorial was handled by ARC Edit, with James Ashbolt as editor. Visual effects and colour grading were executed by Electric Theater Collective, with Megan Lee serving as colorist — a contribution visible in the films' saturated, almost theatrical palette that distinguishes each character's world. Sound was handled by One Union Recording Studios.
Malwarebytes Creative Director Kevin Thomson shaped the campaign's creative brief from the inside, ensuring the two characters — the imposter prince and the compulsive clicker — functioned as more than comic devices. Each archetype is a recognisable real-world threat vector: phishing scams and social engineering on one side, and user-initiated malware exposure through reckless clicking on the other. The craft decision to make both characters sympathetic in their absurdity, rather than villainous, keeps the tone inclusive. No viewer is made to feel foolish for having encountered these situations — a tone that serves Malwarebytes' broader mission of democratising digital safety across the United States by reducing shame around cyber threat exposure. Coverage by Shots confirmed the campaign's tonal success, describing its approach as 'rapid-fire, surrealistic comedy' that transforms internet threats into memorable characters.
No verified third-party performance data for the 'Protection You Can Trust' campaign — such as view counts, click-through rates, or brand lift figures — is publicly available at the time of publication. What the production record and media footprint do confirm is a campaign built with structural elements that correlate strongly with effectiveness in the US consumer internet security category.
The campaign's two-film format allows Malwarebytes to address both primary threat archetypes — external scammers and user-side clicking behaviour — without asking any single execution to carry the full explanatory burden of digital safety. That division of labour is creatively efficient and strategically sound. The surrealistic comedy register, executed by a director with a documented visual signature and supported by post-production from Electric Theater Collective, positions the campaign above the visual baseline of most antivirus and cybersecurity advertising in the United States.
The campaign received editorial recognition from Shots, one of the advertising industry's most selective creative publications, upon its publication on March 23, 2023. Shots coverage is a qualitative proxy for creative standing, as the publication evaluates work on craft and originality rather than media spend. In a category where incumbents including Norton and McAfee compete on scale and feature comparison, Malwarebytes' ability to earn editorial placement on creative merit represents a distinct form of brand capital in the US market. The Clapboard Score of 72 out of 100 reflects that balance: creative ambition that is clearly above category average, with room to grow in documented reach and measurable consumer impact.
'Protection You Can Trust' is a 2023 Malwarebytes campaign consisting of two comedy films targeting US audiences. Produced by Florence and directed by Harry Deadman, the films star a fake phishing prince and a compulsive clicker to illustrate how Malwarebytes protects devices from cyber threats, malware, and internet scams with a few simple clicks.
Harry Deadman directed both films in the campaign. Deadman brought his signature bold color palettes and surrealistic art direction to the production, which was made by Los Angeles creative studio Florence. The campaign's post-production, including visual effects and color grading, was handled by Electric Theater Collective with colorist Megan Lee.
The two films are 'Prince-ish' and 'Ms. Clicks.' 'Prince-ish' features a brazen imposter prince referencing email phishing scams, while 'Ms. Clicks' follows a character who recklessly clicks on every internet threat she encounters, including chain letters and fake sweepstakes, infecting her device with computer viruses and malware.
Malwarebytes uses surreal comedy rather than fear-based messaging to reach US consumers who feel embarrassed, not technically empowered, by cyber threats. By making the two most common threat archetypes — external scammers and reckless clicking — into comedic characters, the campaign reduces stigma and positions Malwarebytes as the relatable choice for digital safety.
The campaign launched in March 2023 in the United States. Shots, the international creative advertising publication, covered the campaign on March 23, 2023, providing editorial recognition for its surrealistic comedy approach. The campaign ran across film, digital, and direct media channels targeting US audiences concerned about ransomware, Trojan horses, and antivirus protection.
The campaign received a Clapboard Score of 72 out of 100. This score reflects strong creative distinctiveness and clear category relevance, with the surrealistic comedy format and bold production craft placing the work above the visual and tonal baseline of most US antivirus and internet security advertising, while leaving room for greater documented consumer impact.
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