Aardman Creates “Discomforts” for Charity

Monday, November 12, 2007
By: Ryan Ball

Playing on its hit British television series Creature Comforts, Aardman Animations is hoping to challenge and change attitudes about disabled persons with “Creature Discomforts,” a clay-animated ad campaign launched this week by Leonard Cheshire Disability. Like the TV show and the Oscar-winning short film that spawned it, the campaign features animated characters mouthing the voices and experiences of real people, only this time the subjects are people wit physical disabilities.

Aardman has created new characters for the spots, including a bull terrier in a wheelchair, a stick insect with a walking stick and a tortoise on crutches. The campaign highlights the disadvantage and discrimination that disabled people experience every day, largely as a result of ignorance on the part of the wider population. Each of the four animations ends with the message “Change the way you see disability”.

“Leonard Cheshire Disability’s new campaign is an important step towards changing everyone’s attitudes to disability,” says “Creature Discomforts” director Steve Harding-Hill. “Working on it has been an amazing experience for us all at Aardman.

The “Creature Discomforts” spots are being previewed online at creaturediscomforts.org starting today (Nov. 12). The characters will also appear in magazine, bus stop and subway advertisements starting this Thursday. Ths spots will then air on ITV in January.

Reader Comments

• Robin : Access auditor : Access All Areas

  Monday, November 12, 2007

  As a disabled person that lives disability and also rund a UK disability resource library on the net i\'d say any awareness of disability is a good thing but i shall hold my judgement until seeing the full versions.
  
  Robin
  ableize.com