Visiting Japan in ‘85 having worked in animation in the U.K. for about 5 years was a real eye opener as far as commercials were concerned - I have to say way more inventive than anything being done in London.
That pop art commercial from ‘67 looks so contemporary, for the 80’s at least, when everything changed in London due to the influence of very experimental pop videos that were being made at the time and which posed a serious challenge to industry giants in the TV commercial sphere, like Richard Williams Studio.
But then Japanese graphic design has always been ahead of the curve.
Sadly, in London, that experimental Punk era spirit really only lasted until the mid 90’s following the success of Roger Rabbit and animation was once again very influenced by the Disney tradition.
Re your last point - if you want to check out some videos of goats for movement then I have some footage I shot in Albania this summer for a documentary :)
Interesting write-up. It’s a neat reminder that there are pillars of creativity to be found in almost anything for those willing to look hard enough, as well as the fact that everything people care about in a particular medium is only as meaningful as the weakest link.
This does call to mind something that I’ve been thinking about, which is the selective way animation historians talk about the medium.
May have already mentioned this essay by Brazilian video game journalist Felipe Pepe, but one point it brings up when documenting video game history is the clear exclusion of things like mobile games and video game mods, despite how present they are in the medium.
I could list many things animation critics typically leave out like the entirety of online flash animation or etc., but commercials are certainly a big one. I assume this is a holdover from the 80s and people are still burned by the advert-heavy era of toyetic cartoons.
In the lead up to his film Fixed premiering on Netflix, Genndy Tartakovsky did an interview talking about his various works with the French site Konbini; when LucasFilms approached him about making 1-minute Star Wars shorts, he said “a minute of animation is a commercial. I don’t want to make commercials for Star Wars” (I fully agree with him here lol)
It’s interesting because it shows how animation is not just a medium, but a spectrum that intercedes so many things, and yet we regularly confine it to just movies and TV shows.
Nothing else to add except to check out this channel by a mutual of mine, Maxine. Not all the commercials or PSAs are animated, but they are intriguing for where they’re from and what they’re promoting (this is where that Wilkins Coffee collection comes from!)
My personal news item is an animatic for an episode of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder getting leaked called “They’re Gonna Love Me”, which focused on the character of Michael being forced not to identify as non-binary. It’s been uploaded here and there, but this is the 3rd case of Disney coming down on a storyline featuring a queer kid of color in the past year or so.
I wanted to mention this earlier or you in my piece on the series, but my Internet connection has been acting up, I haven’t published it yet (and also why, I haven’t commented here since you’ve been back)
Visiting Japan in ‘85 having worked in animation in the U.K. for about 5 years was a real eye opener as far as commercials were concerned - I have to say way more inventive than anything being done in London.
That pop art commercial from ‘67 looks so contemporary, for the 80’s at least, when everything changed in London due to the influence of very experimental pop videos that were being made at the time and which posed a serious challenge to industry giants in the TV commercial sphere, like Richard Williams Studio.
But then Japanese graphic design has always been ahead of the curve.
Sadly, in London, that experimental Punk era spirit really only lasted until the mid 90’s following the success of Roger Rabbit and animation was once again very influenced by the Disney tradition.
This is such a goodie!!!
I have my hot tea and I get to enjoy this.
Your work is magick.
Re your last point - if you want to check out some videos of goats for movement then I have some footage I shot in Albania this summer for a documentary :)
Reading this while the McDonald's Japan Instagram profile is "aring" a short anime series to advertise their Samurai Mac makes me giggle. 😄
Speaking of animation and ads, have you ever dedicated an issue to the Italian Carosello show? This is a huge and strong part of our TV history.
Interesting write-up. It’s a neat reminder that there are pillars of creativity to be found in almost anything for those willing to look hard enough, as well as the fact that everything people care about in a particular medium is only as meaningful as the weakest link.
This does call to mind something that I’ve been thinking about, which is the selective way animation historians talk about the medium.
https://felipepepe.medium.com/the-gentrification-of-video-game-history-dfe11f1e08ae
May have already mentioned this essay by Brazilian video game journalist Felipe Pepe, but one point it brings up when documenting video game history is the clear exclusion of things like mobile games and video game mods, despite how present they are in the medium.
I could list many things animation critics typically leave out like the entirety of online flash animation or etc., but commercials are certainly a big one. I assume this is a holdover from the 80s and people are still burned by the advert-heavy era of toyetic cartoons.
In the lead up to his film Fixed premiering on Netflix, Genndy Tartakovsky did an interview talking about his various works with the French site Konbini; when LucasFilms approached him about making 1-minute Star Wars shorts, he said “a minute of animation is a commercial. I don’t want to make commercials for Star Wars” (I fully agree with him here lol)
https://youtu.be/wylL48DiPXo
It’s interesting because it shows how animation is not just a medium, but a spectrum that intercedes so many things, and yet we regularly confine it to just movies and TV shows.
Nothing else to add except to check out this channel by a mutual of mine, Maxine. Not all the commercials or PSAs are animated, but they are intriguing for where they’re from and what they’re promoting (this is where that Wilkins Coffee collection comes from!)
https://youtube.com/@hallofadvertising
My personal news item is an animatic for an episode of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder getting leaked called “They’re Gonna Love Me”, which focused on the character of Michael being forced not to identify as non-binary. It’s been uploaded here and there, but this is the 3rd case of Disney coming down on a storyline featuring a queer kid of color in the past year or so.
I wanted to mention this earlier or you in my piece on the series, but my Internet connection has been acting up, I haven’t published it yet (and also why, I haven’t commented here since you’ve been back)