This digital short details the economic and environmental advantages of switching from heating oil to natural gas for Con Edison customers. The message is lightened by animation director Bill Plympton’s signature quirky style.
A shimmering swirl of snowflakes becomes a whirl of dollar bills, a New York City highrise becomes a single-family home and a suburban cul-de-sac becomes a stovetop gas burner. Punctuating the short’s sepia-tone palette are several pops of bright blue: a furnace flame, a branded baseball cap and a hand-drawn version of the Con Edison logo.
Plympton teamed with The Napoleon Group on the short.
Credits
Client Con Edison Animation Bill Plympton, director, art/animation. Production The Napoleon Group, New York. Chris Stetson, executive producer/writer; Ken Kresge, creative director; Perry Morton, Shelley Cheung, producers; Scott Stein, art supervisor; Norm Morales, storyboard artist; Shaun Reuter, editor; Stephane Guyot, audio engineer.
Stain remover Vanish presents this emotional short film--created by BETC Havas, Sao Paulo, and produced by LOBO--that explores the profound consequences of bullying and highlights the importance of open conversations between parents and children. Titled The Bully Monster, the animated film premiered at the Maquinaria Festival in Rio de Janeiro on February 15 in a special edition featuring family-focused programming.
The filmโs protagonist is a boy who experiences bullying at school but keeps silent about his suffering. Isolation turns sadness into insecurity, creating invisible emotional scars that only grow in the absence of dialogue. When his mother notices stains on his uniform, these marks become the starting point for a revealing conversation. As words find space to make themselves heard, the stains begin to fade.
This initiative aligns with the Vanish Saves Your Uniform campaign, which, for the past three years during the back-to-school season, has engaged with parents by positioning the brand as a trusted partner in preserving school uniforms. This year, Vanish decided to broaden the conversation, bringing bullying into the debate as the real stain that can impact a childโs life.
The Bully Monster is being screened as preshow material in movie theaters starting February 20 and will also be available on streaming platforms and digital channels. In addition to the film, the campaign will include out-of-home activations and school initiatives through a partnership with Abrace โ Preventive Programs, the founding organization of the โBullying-Free Schoolsโ program, which has been equipping institutions with resources to combat school violence for 12 years.
โResearch indicates that stains on a uniform can... Read More
