Watch Your Own Heart Attack is an unforgettable, two minute film which enables you to experience what it's like to have a heart attack first hand....
Link: Heart Attack
Please, view the 2 minute video first, prior to reading the article, as it contains spoilers... Above link provides the best quality feed, as well as bandwidth, for the (Flash) video.
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Steven Berkoff ad for BHF portrays true effects of a heart attack
Monday August 11 2008 06:52 BST
Mark Sweney
(Guardian-UK) TV ad featuring actor Steven Berkoff punching and gagging an unseen man, shot to make it seem like the man is the viewer, aims to graphically portray what it is like to have a heart attack.
The ad, called "Watch your own heart attack", has been made as part of a wider awareness campaign for the British Heart Foundation.
It was due to be broadcast just once on UK TV, during last night's ITV1 repeat of Midsomer Murders.
The ad, the first work by the charity's new ad agency Grey London since it won the BHF account in May, is unusually long for a TV commercial, with a two-minute 20-second scene featuring Berkoff talking to camera about the symptoms of a heart attack.
Berkoff, a veteran of the stage and screen with credits including A Clockwork Orange, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Octopussy, is filmed from the point of view of a potential heart attack victim who is the only other person in the room with him.
During the course of the scene Berkoff simulates symptoms through methods including a punch to the chest, applying tape to the mouth of the sufferer to simulate breathing difficulties, and getting his victim in a vice-like hug to show tightness in the chest.
The ad ends with the victim vomiting and Berkoff warning that not all heart attack symptoms are as obvious as people think.
"When we were doing a research group for the pitch someone said 'what you really need to do is give everyone in Britain a heart attack'," said Jon Williams, the chief creative officer at Grey London, "so we did".
The BHF said that the aim of the ad was to get people to call 999 as soon as they experience heart attack symptoms and not to dismiss danger signals as being minor problems.
"We're bringing heart attacks to life in living rooms because understanding how one could feel might mean the difference between life and death," said Betty McBride, the director of policy and communications at the BHF.
The TV ad was directed by Channel 4's creative director Brett Foraker.
Foraker has worked on Channel 4 promos including a trail for the broadcaster's Disarming Britain anti-gun season, with youths doing the two finger "gun salute", and reviving Max Headroom in a promotional clip for digital switchover.
The BHF's one-off TV airing of the ad was promoted by a poster campaign and teaser TV and radio teasers featuring personalities such as Chris Tarrant and David Cameron.
Steven Berkoff ad for British Heart Foundation portrays effects of a heart attack | Media | guardian.co.uk
Link: Heart Attack
Please, view the 2 minute video first, prior to reading the article, as it contains spoilers... Above link provides the best quality feed, as well as bandwidth, for the (Flash) video.
__________________________________________________
Steven Berkoff ad for BHF portrays true effects of a heart attack
Monday August 11 2008 06:52 BST
Mark Sweney
(Guardian-UK) TV ad featuring actor Steven Berkoff punching and gagging an unseen man, shot to make it seem like the man is the viewer, aims to graphically portray what it is like to have a heart attack.
The ad, called "Watch your own heart attack", has been made as part of a wider awareness campaign for the British Heart Foundation.
It was due to be broadcast just once on UK TV, during last night's ITV1 repeat of Midsomer Murders.
The ad, the first work by the charity's new ad agency Grey London since it won the BHF account in May, is unusually long for a TV commercial, with a two-minute 20-second scene featuring Berkoff talking to camera about the symptoms of a heart attack.
Berkoff, a veteran of the stage and screen with credits including A Clockwork Orange, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Octopussy, is filmed from the point of view of a potential heart attack victim who is the only other person in the room with him.
During the course of the scene Berkoff simulates symptoms through methods including a punch to the chest, applying tape to the mouth of the sufferer to simulate breathing difficulties, and getting his victim in a vice-like hug to show tightness in the chest.
The ad ends with the victim vomiting and Berkoff warning that not all heart attack symptoms are as obvious as people think.
"When we were doing a research group for the pitch someone said 'what you really need to do is give everyone in Britain a heart attack'," said Jon Williams, the chief creative officer at Grey London, "so we did".
The BHF said that the aim of the ad was to get people to call 999 as soon as they experience heart attack symptoms and not to dismiss danger signals as being minor problems.
"We're bringing heart attacks to life in living rooms because understanding how one could feel might mean the difference between life and death," said Betty McBride, the director of policy and communications at the BHF.
The TV ad was directed by Channel 4's creative director Brett Foraker.
Foraker has worked on Channel 4 promos including a trail for the broadcaster's Disarming Britain anti-gun season, with youths doing the two finger "gun salute", and reviving Max Headroom in a promotional clip for digital switchover.
The BHF's one-off TV airing of the ad was promoted by a poster campaign and teaser TV and radio teasers featuring personalities such as Chris Tarrant and David Cameron.
Steven Berkoff ad for British Heart Foundation portrays effects of a heart attack | Media | guardian.co.uk
