What Ho She Bumps

1937
Sound
7m

Puppet pirates pray on the sleeping Navy: the crew of HMS Hopeless pay the price of night starvation in this 1930s Horlicks ad.

Animator George Pal's 'puppet pirates' rule the waves and prey on a sleeping Navy. After a close shave the weary crew of HMS Hopeless transform themselves into the good ship HMS Hopeful as the virtues of Horlicks are explained. Our revitalised heroes pursue their attackers and 'night starvation' - a condition invented by Horlicks - becomes a thing of the past.

PUPPET ANIMATION FILM ADVERTISING HORLICKS MALTED MILK: THE CREW OF HMS
HOPELESS ARE REVITALISED BY DRINKING HORLICKS.

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.