Solid Fuel

1965
Sound
1m

A chorus of coal fires sing for their cut-price supper in this short animated ad for the National Coal Board.

What would you do if someone dropped a ton of coal on your doorstep? Where would you put it? Coal delivery to the home is a rare sight these days, and TV ads for such services almost unthinkable. This short cartoon makes use of a catchy jingle, adds some sophistication with the conductor rather than a grimy coal man, and wraps it up with a summer sale offer of 25 shillings (£1.25) off every ton. Quite what you would do with 20 sacks of coal in summer is unmentioned…

The advert was produced by Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films, Britain's largest animation studio at the time, and best known for their version of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1954). Though uncredited, the actual animation drawings were almost certainly by Harold Whitaker, whose fluid, bouncy style is very recognisable. The conductor would have been a familiar subject as Harold directed and animated a comic short called Hoffnung's Symphony Orchestra around the same time. Based on the work of Gerald Hoffnung, it features a similar conductor figure literally bringing down the Albert Hall in a barnstorming performance.

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.