Pollution is in the eye of the beholder, and this :30 serves to change our point of view as to where toxic danger lies. We open on a lost dog wandering along the side of a road.You can’t help but feel sorry for man’s best friend, especially when you see a nearby traffic jam with much vehicle exhaust, including a big-rig truck belching out black fumes.
The soot and grime in this major gridlock seem somehow more offensive when juxtaposed with the scene of a young girl blowing bubbles from her passenger seat out a car window. The thought of air pollution taking its toll on the long-term health of the girl makes her seem like a victim, just as the poor dog seen at the spot’s outset. The haze of the not so great outdoors is palpable. However, just when you thought it wasn’t safe to be outside comes the realization that indoors is hardly an idyllic refuge.
A sign off to the side of the road reads, “Last Chance. Bar & Grill.” The camera takes us to the interior of a smoke-filled bar, where employees work and customers play. The aforementioned “Last Chance” sign seems prophetic as the haze in the bar rivals that of the outdoors.
The spot then takes us back into vehicular traffic, with such sights as a state trooper pulling over a car. But whatever the infraction committed by the motorist, it pales by comparison to the violation wafting through the air at the bar.
A wide shot reveals that the bar has no roof and no walls–it’s located outside, alongside the heavily trafficked highway. Two more makeshift road signs put the scene into chilling perspective. The first reads, “Crazy? The air in a smoky bar is up to 50% more toxic.” The next sign caries the food-for-thought message, “Just imagine if you worked there,” accompanied by a Web site address, standohio.org.
The filmic approach contrasting imagery from the outside and the supposed inside was brought to us by the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention & Control Foundation. The action plays to the tune of a young girl singing “Ring Around the Rosie.” “Road Kill” was directed by Nelson Cabrera of bicoastal HKM Productions for agency Northlich, Cincinnati.
Carl Swan executive produced for HKM, with Eric Escott serving as producer. The DP was Jesse Green, who shot the spot in Cincinnati.
The Northlich creative ensemble consisted of art directors Chris Dye and Eric Thompson, copywriter Sarah Lyons and producer Diane Frederick.
Editor was Tate Webb of Red Echo Post, Cincinnati. Colorist was John Palmisano of Cineworks, Miami.
Scott Thierauf was the Maya CGI artist via Red Echo Post. Audio post mixer/sound designer was Grant Kattmann of Sound Images, Cincinnati. Composer was Sound Images’ Rob Fedders, with Jack Streitmarter producing.
