BBC Digital "Faces" (partially lost BBC One/Two promotional advertising material; 2005)
Screenshot of the original 50 sec ad.
Status: Partially Found
The BBC's digital TV 'Faces' promotion was made as a co-production between Conkerco, The Mill, Artem Digital, Red Bee Media, and DFGW, and an on-air promotion to inform the viewer on how to get the six extra BBC channels (that being BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News 24, and BBC Parliament) on cable, satellite services, and Freeview.
The Trails
The ads first aired on 5 November 2005, and were scheduled next to programmes such as EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing, and Neighbors. The ads' airtimes were during daytime and at peak. The 50 sec ad features a giant animated head being held together by smaller heads, morphing into that of a lion, then the heads of John Simpson and Shakespeare, as it informs us of the programmes airing on the six extra channels at the time.
Two of the four ads (aside from the original and the Christmas ad) have been confirmed to feature the heads of Postman Pat and Bob the Builder, though these ads are yet to surface on YouTube.
The campaign concluded with a Christmas version of the ad (both a 30-second version and 10-second version are available to watch on Justin Hewelt's YT channel) which was immediately withdrawn after its first airings due to a majority of the BBC's viewers at the time suffering from trypophobia (fear of clusters).
After the ads aired for a final time on 9 December 2005, the campaign ended three days later after the complaints racked up from 400 to 1,300.
The subject came back a few times through 2006, whether it's about the ads disproving that "the penis is evil" or governers objecting to the campaign ever airing in the first place.
Availability
The original ad is currently viewable on The Mill's website and Stash Animation Magazine.
Some footage of one of the ads can be viewed of episode 4 of Armando Iannucci's Time Trumpet as per a sketch where Richard Ayode informs the viewer that the heads are, in fact, the heads of 2,000 headless bodies.
The ad is also available on some continuity/junction recordings on YouTube, as well as revelationsr's channel.
Ads currently available: 2/4
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