Charley Says: Falling in the Water

1973
Sound
1m

Kids don't always listen to their parents. But in the 70s they certainly listened to a giant ginger tabby cat...

Poor Charley - full of good advice, but all too often he fell into trouble himself. Public information films often use shock tactics, but this series used the cat as a surrogate in the accidents. Although the sight of a child drowning would certainly have packed a punch, it was felt that the fantasy friendship between a boy and a cat meant the message resonated more with young children when the cat was put in peril instead.

Animated public information filler. Charley the cat falls in the water due to careless play whilst a boy's father is fishing. After he is rescued, Charley and the boy tell the audience to stay close to a grown-up by the water.

Animation Goes to Work

For those with an official message to get across, animation is the perfect messenger

Animation has an almost magical ability to charm and captivate. And those same qualities also make it a strikingly effective communication tool. It grabs attention, speaks to all ages, and can distil complex messages into simple and appealing visual metaphors. For government or other august bodies, cartoon antics have often been the perfect jam to sweeten the pill of official communications, whether to explain sweeping change or impart health and safety messages. And for the inventive animator, even the most utilitarian brief is no barrier to the most outlandish of treatments.