You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

A few weeks ago, I did an Ad Space on an animated PSA using Hansel & Gretel to talk about eating disorders. The commercial in question:

When talking about it before, I focused mainly on how the story of Hansel & Gretel doesn’t really fit the message the ad was trying to convey. What I didn’t spend enough time on was how gorgeously animated it is. Like, if someone had made a full-length Hansel & Gretel animated movie, I could only hope it would look this good.

To my surprise, this ad wasn’t alone. In the early 2000’s, there were several companies all putting some shockingly well animated takes on fairy tales in their commercials. I think it must have been the cultural zeitgeist, coming off a decade of Disney Rennaissance movies, plus Shrek making this sort of fractured fairy tale stuff super-popular. And I figured, hey, I should share these with all of you!

Moviefone put out a couple like this, featuring an off-kilter take on Red Riding Hood and a somewhat raunchier take on Cinerella.

Nike did one as well, getting John Kricfalusi to direct a version of Three Little Pigs that feels like a spiritual cousin to Tev Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood.

And finally, McDonald’s doing a take on Sleeping Beauty. It looks nice (though the Disney version has so influenced my view of the fairy tale that it’s weird seeing Sleeping Beauty as a brunette), but I wonder if a fast food restaurant nowadays would approve the message, “After eating our food, you’re gonna want to lie down for hours afterwards.”