These two Washington Dept. of Health anti-smoking PSAs titled "Park" and "Rec Room" get my stamp of approval for simply being super cool horror animations. Directed by Chel White, these fantastic PSAs would totally stand on their own as entertaining animated shorts. The videos feature creepy-cute dolls with giant eyes that resemble characters from a Magaret Keane painting. The dolls lean in for a kiss in both videos, but that gets interrupted each time when one of them has bad breath from smoking. To symbolize the bad breath, the doll has disgusting things coming out of its little mouth, such as a dead rodent, or dripping yellow goo.
"Commissioned by the Washington Department of Health and directed by Chel White, these are anti-smoking ads intended for adolescents. The concept is to communicate that smoking would make oneself unappealing to one's peers. The thinking was this approach would resonate better with kids than a message about health concerns, which for most kids are far off on the horizon. Both public service ads were produced at Bent Image Lab, Portland Oregon. The advertising agency was Sedgwick Rd" — (Vimeo)
