Farm Sanctuary "Pigs are friends, not food." (2014) :35 (USA)

First PETA now this ad for Farm Sanctuary are showing us a lighter, smarter and way less exploitive side of Animal Rights and Veganism. For that I applaud.

In this stop-motion animated spot, with characters created with folded paper no less, we learn a few facts about pigs in an effort to change perception. They aren't in fact animals who roll around in the mud all day. Okay, they do roll around in mud, but they are able to learn play video games with joy sticks faster than chimps, faster than a three-year old child, and can beat both.

Between PETA and Farm Sanctuary, I'll throw my weight behind the latter any day.Farm Sanctuary is a least trying to inform rather than preached, and this ad works on those merits alone. Plus it's a cute ad. So I applaud them for that.

Will the fact a pig can beat a three-year old at Space Invaders make a meat eater want to stop eating meat? That's a tricky one.

Also for every yin a yang. There are two billion pigs on the planet. Some of them are feral, and the feral pigs are actually destroying the ecosystem.
Oh, and some of them are radioactive. No joke.
Don't know about you but I personally don't want a wild radioactive pig as a friend.

Client: Farm Sanctuary
Director: Melanie Mandl
Agency: One/x
Copywriter: Jean Rhode
Copywriter: Kelly Beck-Byrnes
Executive Creative Director: Jason Wulfsohn
Director of Strategy: Ben Tiernan
Junior Art Director: Belinda Sumali
Voice Over Talent: Amanda Philipson
Color Correction: David Smith
VO Recording: Sonicpool Post Production
Production Design: Melanie Mandl
Set Decorator: Zarouhi Mazmanyan
Character Design:Melanie Mandl, Robbie Mehring
Model Makers: Zarouhi Mazmanyan, Henry Kamp
Lighting Designer: Mark Mervis
Animated by: Melanie Mandl
"Farm Runner" video game designed by: Henry Kamp
Compositing/ Rotoscoping: Henry Kamp
Mixed by: David Bach
Music Composed by: J. William Adkins
Special Thanks: Somewhere Something, All Sets, Brandon Fusco, Dean Styers, Keystone Art Space, Victoria Foraker, Tommi Zabrecky