be marathon runners are dropping like flies in an animation spot promoting World AIDS Day and sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co. Seemingly oblivious to those toppling around him, a condom character is seen chugging right along on his 26-mile jaunt. The supered tagline simply reads: Last longer with a condom. World AIDS Day 1998.
The PSA is one of four :15s in a World AIDS Day campaign directed by John Hays of San Francisco animation studio Wild Brain; each spot features the condom character. In Lucky, a condom wearing a parachute jumps out of a plane. Unable to pull the ripcord, the condom free falls to his apparent final resting place only to be saved when he lands on a bale of hay next to a cow. The tagged message: Get lucky with a condom.
Similarly in Sensitive, our condom protagonist is seen crying his eyes out in a darkened movie theatre. Hes reacting to a romantic tearjerker being shown on the silver screen. The punchline: Condoms are sensitive. And in Trampoline, Mr. Condom is shown bouncing up and down on a bed. The supered conclusion: Condoms are fun.
The agency on the campaign was TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco, whose team consisted of creative director/copywriter Peter Angelos, creative director/art director Rob Smiley, art director Jennifer Boyd, copywriter Craig Namba and producer Katherine Colbert.
In addition to Hays, other contributing artisans at Wild Brain included animator Ralph Fernan, assistant animators Victor Gascon, Billy Burger and Brian McKensie, exec. producers Jeff Fino and Paul Golden, producer Liz Gazzano, production manager Adrian Card and layout artist Cindy Ng, with ink and paint done by Kuen Hicks and Frank Barnhardt. The illustrator was Graham Falk of Dynomight Cartoons, Toronto.
Offline editor at Wild Brain was Gretchen Hildebran. Greg Gilmore of Western Images, San Francisco, served as online editor. Claude Letessier of Cyberia, Santa Monica, was the sound designer. The four spots-part of a much larger, broader-based campaign-ran primarily overseas. There was a limited domestic run on MTV in late Nov./early Dec.
-Millie Takaki
“Memoir of a Snail” Takes Top Prize At London Film Festival
The Official Competition jury said: “Our jury was incredibly moved by Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, which is a singular achievement in filmmaking. Emotionally resonant and constantly surprising, Memoir tackles pertinent issues such as bullying, loneliness and grief head-on, creating a crucial and universal dialogue in a way that only animation can. The jury is delighted to recognize an animated film alongside its live-action peers.”
Rounding out the winners of this year’s films screening In Competition are:
- Winner of the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition – On Falling (Dir. Laura Carreira)
- Winner of the Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition – Mother Vera (Dirs. Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson)
- Winner of the Short Film Award in the Short Film Competition – Vibrations from Gaza (Dir. Rehab Nazzal)