Aardman Animations' Creature Comforts, released way back in 1989, is a classic piece of short film that matched up real interviews about people's homes with animation of animals in a zoo.
Charming to this day and fascinating in its ability to show how seamlessly humans and animals can be compared, Creature Comforts has occasionally inspired projects that use its approach to create a similar bond of empathy.
The newest to do so, perhaps more compellingly than any before, is Aardman's "Creature Discomforts: Life in Lockdown," created with agency Engine for the nonprofit Born Free Foundation.
The video uses audio from Brits interviewed in lockdown and puts it in the mouths of animals held in captivity by a zoo, sea park or circus.
"It's almost like a social castration," notes one Brit, recast in the video as an orangutan in a zoo.
The ad ends with copy that reinforces the permanence of lockdown for animals in captivity: "For us, lockdown was temporary. For some animals, it's their life."
Will it convert the indifferent into animal rights advocates? Perhaps not, but it's definitely a potent way of reminding us that even humans, despite being perfectly safe and well fed at home, have a deep-seated need to roam free. Could our distant cousins be much different?
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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