Mr.........Goes Motoring

1925
Silent
3m

Deceptively simple early animated ad for Shell petrol

H.M. Bateman's cartoons for Punch magazine made him one of the most celebrated artists of the 1920s and 1930s. He was best known for "The Man Who...", a series of drawings satirising class and morals by making comedy from social faux pas. This film was based on a set of 14 colour posters commissioned from Bateman by Shell, featuring the character 'Mr Wiseman' and running through a series of emotions - jubilation, determination, etc.

The animation was produced by the Australian David Barker. Barker and Bateman would collaborate again on The Boy Who Wanted to Make Pictures, made for Kodak and also available on BFI Player.

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.