Johnson & Mills Kelp Dip - First Steps (1999, USA, rejected)

Following the success of his 1998 short film Billy’s Balloon, animator Don Hertzfeldt was commissioned by The Family Learning Channel and later the Johnson & Mills corporation to produce television commercials. Hertzfeldt decided to conjure up the worst possible animations within five weeks and both companies were appalled, rejecting every single one of them. Hertzfeldt would break down soon after their rejection, and these purposeless ideas soon began to fall apart. He later came to the conclusion that advertising is all lies, contrary to any beliefs that he was involved in a campaign of Pop Tarts commercials that began in 2004. Directed by Don Hertzfeldt at Bitter Films.