The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Andrews Liver Salts: Little Andy
Little Andy takes the speedy way to sparkling good health in a zippy 50s cartoon advertisement for Andrews Liver Salts.
From the collection of:
Overview
Slow starter Little Andy wins the race after a swig of fizzing good Andrews Liver Salts in this zesty animated cinema ad. Newcastle-based Scott and Turner registered Andrews in 1909, naming the brand after a local church in Newgate Street. Quick to pitch this popular patent medicine to people's lingering belief in a good purge for health, their catchy “inner cleanliness” slogans tapped into the 20th century obsession with youth and hygiene.
Along with print campaigns, Andrews Liver Salts sponsored radio shows and moved into screen advertising during the boom-time 50s to capitalise on their worldwide market. The brand used a variety of marketing techniques including celebrity endorsement – the 1953 Footballer of the Year Stanley Matthews promoted Andrews on film – and animation. This Little Andy commercial adopts the bold graphics, flattened character designs, compressed space and bright colours pioneered by the Oscar-winning UPA (United Productions of America) studio, whose strikingly modern cartoons caught the public's imagination in the 1950s and were hugely influential in the animation world.
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