The spot, created for the charity by Partners BDDH, broke last night on ITV and Channel 4. The 30-second animated ad shows characters worrying variously about their virility, their eyesight, losing hair and gaining wrinkles, but oblivious to the dangers of high cholesterol levels.
A voiceover in the ads says: "As we grow older, it turns out the thing we worry about the least is the thing we should worry about the most."
One of the figures then drops dead and the voiceover continues: "High cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease. Seven out of 10 people over the age of 45 have high cholesterol."
The ad finishes by directing viewers to the site.
The ad was written by Dave Shelton and Liz Whiston, and directed by Jim Le Fevre through Nexus Productions. Media for the campaign was through Manning Gottlieb OMD.
The British Heart Foundation's advertising was at the centre of a furore last year when one of its print ads, showing a woman with a plastic bag over her head, was the most complained about press ad in 2002. The ad, which received 315 complaints, was created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.
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