HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL | SAVE RALPH | 2022
This Is Not a Condom Ad / Humane Society International "SAVE RALPH"
Ralph the rabbit can't see out of one eye. He's deaf in one ear. His back is scarred with chemical burns. And yet he talks proudly about his job as a "tester." This four-minute stop-motion film has been watched more than 150 million times around the world — and it moved Mexico to act.
The problem
Cosmetic animal testing is banned in 41 countries, but it's still legal across most of the world. Rabbits like Ralph are held in neck restraints while cosmetics and chemicals are dripped into their eyes and onto their shaved skin. They're given no pain relief, and every animal is killed in the end. Humane Society International worked with its chapters around the world to run the #SaveRalph campaign, targeting 16 countries — including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, and 10 countries across Southeast Asia — to push for bans on cosmetic animal testing. Producer Jeff Vespa said, "We wanted to make something people would actually want to watch, something that would teach them about the dangers of animal testing. We decided an animated film was the best way to do that."
The insight
Director Spencer Susser said, "When you show people the reality of cosmetic testing on animals, they instinctively cover their eyes or look away. So we needed to get the message across in a different way." Live action would feel too real and simply scare viewers off. Stylizing it a little through animation makes it easier for people to take in. By making Ralph lovable and giving him a brave face, they could still hit viewers with the harsh reality at the end without losing them along the way. "Ralph's story needed to gently pull the audience in and get them emotionally invested before we landed the punch. We rewrote the script again and again to get the storytelling right," Susser said. "The truth about animal testing is so upsetting that people often just turn away from it. So we needed a way to draw audiences in and really make them pay attention, for the animals' sake. Save Ralph does exactly that — you fall in love with Ralph, and your heart breaks for him." By "interviewing" Ralph in mockumentary style, the film builds a kind of comfortable wall around the audience — which makes the moment that wall comes down hit even harder.
The idea
A stop-motion mockumentary short written and directed by Spencer Susser, with voice work from Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, Olivia Munn, Pom Klementieff, and Tricia Helfer. Ralph (voiced by Waititi) tells a documentary film crew about his everyday life as a "tester." He's blind in one eye, partially deaf, and the chemical burns on his back ache every time he breathes or moves. Puppet maker Andy Gent's Arch Model Studio built every character model entirely by hand. Making Ralph alone took more than four months, and fitting him with fur took five weeks. Filming took 50 days, producing about four seconds of footage per day. The set was designed to feel as if generations of rabbits had lived there before Ralph, with a lived-in, cluttered look evoking the '70s and '80s. Alongside the English version, versions were also made in French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese, with George Lopez, Denis Villeneuve, Rodrigo Santoro, Wilmer Valderrama, and Rosario Dawson each voicing the character in their own language version.
What happened
The four-minute short was released by Humane Society International on April 6, 2021, and was praised by critics. Within a few months of its release it had been watched more than 150 million times across various social media platforms, and the hashtag #SaveRalph was viewed more than 720 million times. It gathered more than 3 million petition signatures in the target countries, helped push Mexico to become the first country in North America to ban cosmetic animal testing, and moved legislative efforts forward in several major economies. At the 69th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2022, it won the Grand Prix for Good, as well as a Gold Lion in the nonprofit film category. The executive director of the Webby Awards said, "Save Ralph set the standard for innovation and creativity on the internet," and the film went on to win two Webby Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
Afterthought
The first time I watched it, I cried at Ralph's final thumbs-up and his line, "It's all good." That bravery, that resignation, and still that earnest will to believe he's "helping humans" — it got me. And when I found out what Ricky Gervais pointed out — that rabbits are chosen for eye irritation tests because they have no tear ducts, so they can't wash the chemicals out of their eyes with tears, meaning it's not for any scientific reason but simply because the chemicals stay in their eyes longer — I shook with anger. "Cosmetic animal testing is cruel, and it needs to stop." This film said that to the world in four minutes of stop-motion animation, and it actually changed laws. That's the power of advertising — the power of creativity. What we can do is choose cruelty-free products. And never forget Ralph.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2022
