In both spots, the characters are on the verge of a romantic kiss, only to have the moment destroyed when one of the puppets places something heinous in its mouth. The PSAs end with the tag “Kissing a smoker is just as gross,” followed by a notice stating, “Tobacco smokes you. AshtrayMouth.com.”
“From the very beginning I knew that the design of the dolls was very important and that they really needed to feel original,” White recalls. “I dug into my childhood memory of things and I remembered those paintings of kids with the big eyes. They always had an eeriness to them that was both cute and unsettling at the same time. They have big eyes and little tiny mouths so that you have this great combination of innocence and twistedness. I thought that was a great contrast.”
Mark Axton was the producer and Ray DiCarlo was the executive produce on the project. Randy Wakerlin, Orland Nutt, Steve Balzer and Jon Weigand handled After Effects compositing. Bent's Steve Miller cut the spots, which were color corrected by Jim Barrett at Downstream in Portland.
Downstream also provided audio post, with Lance Limbocker contributing sound design and mixing. Eric Johnson of Clatter & Din in Seattle provided additional sound design, as well as original music. Bent Image Lab composers Ethan Rose and Daniel Menche provided music too.
To view the Park PSA, CLICK HERE.