Girlfriends, a 30-second anti-smoking public service announcement, was created by Buzzco Associates for advertising agency GCI in Great Neck, New York.
The original design concept was for the spot to resemble the urban restlessness of Buzzco's Fast Food Matador, but when the agency saw Buzzco's latest film, (it was...) Nothing At All, they decided the new spot should look like that!
I loved working on this spot!
I loved its intention-- to encourage young African American girls not to smoke. I loved designing our characters and loved the actors.
We had submitted many character designs for the ad-- at the outset the agency wasn't sure how "cartoon-y" or realistic they should be. I was one of about 6 illustrators to pitch drawings and they iced mine..
I remember riding the subway and quietly drawing young black girls' hairstyles. When they picked my design, the drawings were painted like Fast Food Matador, on cels. Then they saw our newly completed Nothing At All and said they liked the collaged texture look. I agreed-- and there we were!
Agency: GCI
Account Supervisor: Richard Guilmenot
Agency Producer: Russell Tillman
Agency Writer: Genny Kellam
Agency Art Director: Cat Stevens
Production House: Buzzco Associates, Inc.
Directors: Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli
Designer: Candy Kugel
Layout: Bill Peckmann
Animators: Vincent Bell/Vincent Cafarelli
Assistant: Richard Broas
