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ventaHello. I've been on holiday, but I'm back now. More of that another day.
This morning, I read on the BBC that advertising cigarettes on TV was banned in the UK in 1965. Gosh, I thought, that's weird, I'm sure I remember seeing ads on TV when I was a kid.
So I thought about it a bit, and concluded that the only one I could actually remember was about the first "born smoker". And so I googled that, and it turns out it wasn't an ad, it was an anti-smoking government public information film.
However, much more excitingly it turns out I now know that there is a massive archive of public information films. Did you know that? You didn't tell me.
I've remembered I'm supposed to be at work, so apart from checking out the First Born Smoker and a couple of films featuring Charley, I have restrained myself. Oh, apart from the watching the extremely peculiar The Fatal Floor.
I had been going to comment that the period 1964-1979 boasts a whopping 38 films in the archive, while 1979-2006 fields a mere 16 for a timespan nearly twice as long. However, I think it's probably a good thing if the government no longer feels the need to make short films to warn us not to fall over rugs.
Are public information films still made? I barely ever watch TV, so wouldn't see them. I hope they are.
Also, does anyone remember a longer version of the First Born Smoker film? I'm sure there was a bit about how children "will be exposed to smoke from an early age, by people called 'friends'".
This morning, I read on the BBC that advertising cigarettes on TV was banned in the UK in 1965. Gosh, I thought, that's weird, I'm sure I remember seeing ads on TV when I was a kid.
So I thought about it a bit, and concluded that the only one I could actually remember was about the first "born smoker". And so I googled that, and it turns out it wasn't an ad, it was an anti-smoking government public information film.
However, much more excitingly it turns out I now know that there is a massive archive of public information films. Did you know that? You didn't tell me.
I've remembered I'm supposed to be at work, so apart from checking out the First Born Smoker and a couple of films featuring Charley, I have restrained myself. Oh, apart from the watching the extremely peculiar The Fatal Floor.
I had been going to comment that the period 1964-1979 boasts a whopping 38 films in the archive, while 1979-2006 fields a mere 16 for a timespan nearly twice as long. However, I think it's probably a good thing if the government no longer feels the need to make short films to warn us not to fall over rugs.
Are public information films still made? I barely ever watch TV, so wouldn't see them. I hope they are.
Also, does anyone remember a longer version of the First Born Smoker film? I'm sure there was a bit about how children "will be exposed to smoke from an early age, by people called 'friends'".
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-06 11:29 am (UTC)I think that's an acknowledged thing, now... various articles described later films as "less hard-hitting", and other such similar euphemisms.
It's interesting to note that the 1951-1964 archive does seem to be of films which genuinely just provide information. They're not safety films at all, they're just informing you about (eg) the Suez crisis, or the political situation in Nigeria. I haven't watched any (yet) because they're rather longer, but I'm guessing they might be tipping over more into propaganda.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-06 02:27 pm (UTC)I struggle to imagine anything less hard-hitting than "The Fatal Floor". It makes me want to polish my floor and put rugs on it just to see how slippy it really is!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-06 02:49 pm (UTC)In fact, I'm not sure it was a good example of anything. Had there been a spate of rugs-on-slippy-floor-related injuries in the early 70s? Was this a problem that was addressed so successfully by this campaign that we, the responsible adults[*] of the present day, are unaware of it?
[*] No, really.