HEARTS Act

Cruelty Free International is the world’s leading organisation working to end animal testing, campaigning across more than 40 countries and working with governments, scientists and companies to replace animal experiments with more humane and scientifically advanced alternatives.

The HEARTS Act is a landmark piece of US legislation that, if passed, would end the legal requirement for animal testing of certain pharmaceuticals, a significant step towards Cruelty Free International’s global mission. 

Cruelty Free International commissioned Nutmeg Productions to create an animated campaign film to support the HEARTS Act advocacy campaign, a film that could communicate the issue clearly and accessibly to broad audiences, make the case for legislative change compellingly, and inspire people to add their voices to the campaign.

Animation was the right creative choice for this brief for two reasons. First, animal testing is a subject where the reality of what happens in laboratories is both highly relevant and deeply distressing. Animation allows the issue to be communicated with full clarity and emotional impact without imagery that would prevent many viewers from engaging. Second, animation gives the HEARTS Act campaign a visual identity that is distinctive, memorable and shareable across digital and social platforms.

Nutmeg Productions’ animation team worked closely with Cruelty Free International to develop a visual language and narrative approach that would serve both the advocacy and the emotional objectives of the campaign, making complex legislative and scientific information accessible, and making the human and animal stakes of the issue impossible to ignore.

The HEARTS Act campaign animation is a piece of advocacy filmmaking designed to move audiences from awareness to action — to understand what the HEARTS Act means, why it matters, and what they can do to support it. It is clear, accessible and emotionally engaged: the combination that makes animation the most powerful tool in the charity communicator’s toolkit for issues where the visual reality is too difficult to show directly.

The film has been used by Cruelty Free International as part of their international HEARTS Act advocacy campaign, helping the organisation reach new audiences and build support for the legislation among the public, policymakers and media. It represents Nutmeg’s depth of expertise in charity animation, a format we have used extensively for healthcare, education and now animal welfare advocacy.

Related Work: Animation is one of Nutmeg Productions’ core specialisms, and we have used it to communicate difficult and complex subjects for charities and public sector organisations including Age UK, the NHS and Public Health England. If you’re planning an animated advocacy campaign film, see our animation and motion graphics page or call us on 020 7993 6205.