Sir John Hurt among voices of “The Chokeables” campaign

The newly knighted Sir John Hurt (Garrick Ollivander) has lent his voice to a new public service campaign to prevent infants from choking. The animated campaign, called “The Chokeables,” was created by British charity St. John Ambulance to teach parents and others a skill that could mean the difference between life and death in an emergency situation. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the campaign is much needed:

It comes as new research shows that four-fifths of parents (79%) do not know the correct technique despite more than half (58%) saying that choking is a major fear for them and 40% that they have witnessed it.

Taking a lighthearted approach to the very serious topic, “The Chokeables” features Hurt – along with fellow actors David Walliams, David Mitchell, and Johnny Vegas – as a number of objects on which an infant could easily choke: a peanut, a princess toy, a pen cap, and a jelly baby. These “chokeables,” as they are called, are all tired of babies choking on them; as the jelly baby (played by Vegas) laments, he is a “baby who chokes babies.”

Research conducted by St. John Ambulance found some startling statistics:

Among [parents] who said they knew how to save a choking baby, only 29% were aware of the correct recommended technique.  Nearly three[-]quarters (71%) gave the wrong answer when given multiple choice options.

As the video shows,

the recommended manoeuvre consists in putting the baby face down on an adult’s thigh, giving up to five back blows and if that does not work, up to five chest thrusts. If both positions fail, the advertisement recommends that parents should call an ambulance.

Watch the campaign video below:

The advertisement will run on television for three months. For more information on St. John Ambulance, you can visit their website here.

Were you aware of the recommended technique to save a choking infant? What do you think of “The Chokeables”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!