• by Aaron Baar , November 2, 2011

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his accident-prone assistant Beaker don’t seem to be the poster children for household safety. But that’s the role they’re playing in a new public service campaign for Underwriters Laboratories.

The Muppets, including Honeydew, Beaker, Kermit the Frog and the Swedish Chef, will appear in a series of videos intended to highlight the importance of safety around the holidays. The campaign, which employs the line “Commit a Minute to Safety,” conveys information such as daily watering of Christmas trees, never leaving lit candles unattended and turning pot handles away from where grasping hands can get them.

“ER visits, accidents and fires increase during the holiday season, but they don’t have to. We are asking busy moms to commit just one minute to safety to help prevent holiday disasters, Suzanne Lavin, VP for corporate marketing, tells Marketing Daily. “To ensure our message is heard far and wide, we’ve teamed up with Disney’s The Muppets to help us reach moms and their children across the country with this important message.”

In one video, Honeydew addresses the audience to speak about fire safety when Beaker catches fire from an unattended flame. Honeydew eventually douses his assistant in fire-dampening foam, showing the importance of being prepared. The videos will be available online and as a public service announcement through the holidays.

UL, which provides quality assurance testing on electric products (including holiday lights, decorations and artificial trees), also has revamped its web site to include downloadable content such as activity books for kids and will be updating its Facebook and Twitter feeds with news about UL-sponsored events, such as the lighting of the Christmas Tree in Chicago and the National Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C.

“During the holidays, UL reminds families to look for the UL Mark on decorations, lights and electronics,” said John Drengenberg, Consumer Safety Director at UL, in a statement. "”When you see the UL Mark, you can rest assured that the highest safety standards have been met.”