Get Real, Get a Prescription

How the commercial was made

In order to create maximum impact, the rat coming from the actor's mouth needed to look as realistic as possible. There were two stages that needed to be considered.

Firstly a model rat was built out of sponge with a realistic tail attached. The actor put all of this into his mouth and then pulled it out, tail first!

Secondly, the rat was filmed coming through a model mouth on the set. Once the two things were complete, special effects combined the films. The actor's realistic performance and the lifelike footage of the rat enabled the final screen shots showing the actor actually pulling the rat out of his mouth.

The film created is a powerful commercial that dramatises the real dangers of buying prescription-only medicines from unregulated sources, and just watching people's reactions shows its effectiveness.

A trained animal handler who is a founding member of the Animal Welfare Filming Federation supplied the rats. All the rats used were sourced from a zoological supplier who provides pre-frozen animal food and no rats were killed or harmed for the making of the advert.

This TV commercial was aired after 11.00pm during 2009, clearly targeting an adult audience.