Secondhand tobacco smoke is harmful. That’s a fact as plain as the nose on your face—or the clock on the wall. In this :30 for The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi’s RAT (Reject All Tobacco) initiative, the clock happens to have a cuckoo bird in it.
The spot takes place in a clockmaker’s cottage. The old-world craftsman is seen at his workbench smoking a pipe. Above him on the wall is a clock from which appears a cuckoo bird. The bird has come out to do his job and announce the hour, but has trouble getting the word "cuckoo" out clearly in the smoke-filled room. He gasps and wheezes repeatedly, struggling to utter his famed call, as more smoke wafts up toward the clock. Even flapping wings won’t blow the smoke away. Finally, the bird collapses on the clock’s plank.
A child’s voiceover breaks in: "Even if you don’t have asthma, secondhand smoke can give it to you."
"Take it from me, you’d better tell somebody," adds Terrance the Rat, an animated character created to promote the RAT education program, which targets kids age six to 11. His advice is in line with a RAT strategy that encourages kids to "teach up" to the adults in their lives, as well as to friends and older siblings.
Conceived by Maris, West & Baker (MWB) Advertising, Jackson, Miss., "Cuckoo" is the latest spot in the ongoing RAT campaign. "We wanted to show—in an imaginative way that appeals to small children—that secondhand smoke can cause difficulty [with] breathing and even asthma—even in those who have never had asthma," related MWB art director Tana Kosiyabong.
The MWB team also included creative director Eric Hughes, copywriter Randy Lynn and graphic designer Chris Nolen. Kosiyabong and Nolen teamed with 3-D animator/compositor Ricky Turner of Eyevox, Ridgeland, Miss., on the design of the cuckoo bird.
Eyevox’s Jeff Tanner directed and shot the spot, with Bob Bates producing. David Selman of Eyevox was the primary editor on the spot, with Gregg Wallace serving as a contributing editor. Both Selman and Wallace are with Eyevox. Additionally, Selman was the online editor, audio mixer and sound designer on "Cuckoo."
Colorist was Valerie Christensen at The Filmworkers Club, Dallas. Handling the audio production voiceover work were audio engineer Keith White and producer Brian Griffiths of Griffiths, Gibson & Ramsay Productions, Vancouver, B.C. Music composer was Hattiesburg, Miss.-based freelancer Sam Watson, who works under the banner Sound by Sam.
