Flu-ing Squad

1951-10
Sound
2m

Anthropomorphic houses pop pills to defeat colds in this cartoon cinema commercial

Thinking about home improvements? Why not try getting your house to pop a couple of pills? In this cinema ad it works far better than any lick of paint. The producers at Halas & Batchelor were dab hands at compressing sales pitches into neatly packaged, entertaining commercials. But whilst seemingly this is a fantasy about colds and flu, the rundown houses in dark smoky streets were a familiar reality to audiences in areas damaged by the Blitz, and the Great Smog of 1952 was just around the corner.

Halas & Batchelor animated advertisement for 'Aspro' cold and flu relief tablets. Anthropomorphic houses suffer from cold and flu symptons, until they are brought relief by Aspro.

Animated Ads

British animation won great success as an entertainer, but it has long had a lucrative second career in sales

In cinemas and on TV, animated adverts have frequently outshone the main attraction. In the early days of the cinema, animated ads were often relative epics, with five-minute comic encounters leading to a pack-shot punchline. The arrival of commercial television in 1955 brought the animated ad down to bite-size, but if anything they packed an even harder punch. Advertisers found that animation could soften the edges of a hard sell approach, and bring cartoon brand characters to life.