Likewise! My sister and I were just discussing this recently, this irrational fear of quicksand, and I think it might be down to The Neverending Story, if that was part of your upbringing.
Yes!! And because there were only a couple of options (presumably), the same sounds would be used in cheery childrens' dramas, confusing things even further!
Love this Faith. You may be a bit young but I recall an ad with a couple on a cliff top looking out to sea with the husband saying ‘nice view from here Petunia’ and Petunia’s reply ‘yes, very nice Joe’….as they wave at someone clearly drowning in the sea 🌊 …
That little girl with the bandaged hand (and the episode of Casualty with the firework accident cold open that aired around the same time) is 100% the reason I've always been terrified of sparklers. I remember once, at a youth club in London, someone tried to hand me a sparkler, and I responded like it was an attempted murder. :D
So interesting, and this was an insight into some of the horrifying stuff I missed b/c of growing up in different countries/cultures. I spent my most formative years in Spain and Germany, watching a bit of local TV but mainly the American military channels we were forced to watch. Over the years, my friends and I were never sure whether these were specifically targeted towards us or all Americans abroad.
I clicked on every link in your post (thanks a lot - who knows how much time I'm going to spend on these later! 😂), can't wait to watch some of those BFI films.
In my later years I saw more of the UK ads and I remember them being more graphic, especially some of the drink driving ads that were horrific (those might have been only in Northern Ireland, though).
The Nancy Reagan 'Just Say No' campaign was the one forced down our throats. Some of the ads were so insipid, like this one (my friends and I couldn't tell if this was pro or anti-drugs!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnENVylxPI
The AIDs stuff was scary as hell too, and for the longest time we were all convinced that toilet seats and mosquitoes would give us AIDs.
Another fun American 'treat' - they were called After School Specials, 90 minute films with an educational message, most of which seemed to feature Molly Ringwald and similar actors. There was one where she slept with some hunky barman, got AIDs and well, you can imagine how that went.
OMG I totally see what you mean about that fried egg one - I think to those of a certain disposition that might actually look like fun!!! It feels as if the ad men had come to the end of their ideas at that point. Or perhaps it was all the coke they'd snorted.
The toilet seat thing really resonates - this was something my grandma had advised against, probably a war message that she herself took in. I conflated it with what I was seeing and assumed I'd get something that would kill me if I sat on one. Still, it was probably great for leg strength 🥴
That archive is a real treat - you'll loose hours perusing it!
I remember all of this ! You’re not alone with the fear ! I remember there was an add about taking heroin , it scared the life out of me ! That boat add !!!! What the heck is that about ?!!!!
I know!! Surely the chances of being on a boat with a kettle, never mind going to the trouble of boiling it for a cup of tea were slim. Perhaps we're wrong and it saved thousands of lives?!
Never mind being terrified through the screen, the clowns were once responsible for teaching kids road safety in person. The one in the "don't go pop!" video very much reminds me of one half of Rolo & Shandy who toured the infant schools of South East England in the 70s and 80s (including mine in 1986), terrifying/educating millions in how to use the roads:
Thank you for showing me these people Catherine - I think! Clowns were so in back then weren't they?! I haven't met anyone who is ok with them. Having them visit schools just seems so OTT, but then again, perhaps their tactics, though heavy, did actually work?!
They certainly put a shift in covering the safety part of the curriculum. Road safety, accidents in the home, stranger danger all a case of send in the clowns at infants school, then the baton was passed on to the local theatre groups for secondary school PSHE, but as you say it must have been effective because I still remember them!
Fascinating mini-history of public information scaremongering, Faith. The seventies-era public information films were, as you say, terrifying.
Yes, I find "nanny state" nudges, like "Get winter-ready" annoying. And the way "issues" can sometimes take precedence over plot and character in modern dramas. You could make a bingo card of what you think will come up next. It can be done well, but is often 'by the numbers'.
Totally Wendy! EastEnders springs to mind - I don't watch it now, to but whenever I watch it by accident there's always some glaringly obvious mental health storyline being tagged onto a character with no context or history. It's so patronising!
Funny Faith, you can tell we are all slightly damaged by the public information film. Everything from Tufty to boiling kettles on a boat. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the advertising industry then - just to see what meetings were like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lo98PcZD4
As a child of the 90s I had a long list of things that didn't feature nearly as much as expected - quicksand, acid rain, quarry accidents, clowns hiding lighthouses...
My fave genre of public health ad had to be the Scottish anti-smoking ones. "I really fancy you" "That tastes boggin'" 🤣 (you maybe didn't see these!)
Didn't they create a fake anti-smoking band at some point too - Stinx? Blue sticks?
The quicksand one is too terrifying to even mention! It seems like a lot were about accidents on farms which is may be why I saw so many of these. That Scottish one is hilarious!
OMG an anti smoking band would be wild - as if anyone would be convinced by that!
I preferred the finger-wagging. Terrifying children to keep them safe was even better.
Remember The Finishing Line (1977)? Where kids had a kind of train-track Olympics. They had to make it across the tracks or through a tunnel without being hit by a train and we got to see the blood pouring from the wounds of the failures.
The Green Cross Man?
“Always use the green cross code because I wont be there when you cross the road.”
This sort of rings a bell. How horrific! It's also reminding me of the Railway Children when Jim gets his foot stuck in the track under a tunnel while doing a paperchase. That also scared me.
As for the Green Cross Man - you have to hand it to the writers who came up with those slogans. They were really catchy!
Omg the AIDS ads we had here in Australia were horrifying. I think everyone stopped having sex forever.
I remember also we were told at the height of the AIDs scare that NYC was rife with AIDs and me and my classmates were like 'we're never going there!'
Exactly!!
Definitely Sara!!
Same here. Coffins and graveyards. Absolutely nuts.
I spent much of my childhood absolutely terrified of quicksand. We lived nowhere near a beach.
Me too! Having rewatched that quicksand one I think it's the worst - genuinely shocking with a little doll being sucked in head first.
I don't think I've ever actually seen it. I think I just absorbed the fear of quicksand by osmosis!
That would have been enough!
Likewise! My sister and I were just discussing this recently, this irrational fear of quicksand, and I think it might be down to The Neverending Story, if that was part of your upbringing.
Ah yes. That's possible. I also wonder if the Famous Five had anything to do with it.
I agree. The combination of all these things definitely added to the overall worry factor, even if some of those films were enjoyable in themselves!
Some of those were horrific. Did you have the police coming to your school and showing you 7 Green Bottles?
The ones about nuclear war was also terrifying. I think the minimalist keyboard sounds of the early 80's are still evocative of that fear.
I'm not sure but the name does sound familiar now - I'll take a look!
Yes, the music in these films is almost as alarming as the scripts. I'm sure it will have inspired impressionable musicians of the time 😊
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yrv505R-0U
The little jingles on this are a perfect example. I don't think they ever released these ones though.
Yes!! And because there were only a couple of options (presumably), the same sounds would be used in cheery childrens' dramas, confusing things even further!
Love this Faith. You may be a bit young but I recall an ad with a couple on a cliff top looking out to sea with the husband saying ‘nice view from here Petunia’ and Petunia’s reply ‘yes, very nice Joe’….as they wave at someone clearly drowning in the sea 🌊 …
Thanks Ruth! Blimey that's so dark! It's amazing what was allowed back then.
That little girl with the bandaged hand (and the episode of Casualty with the firework accident cold open that aired around the same time) is 100% the reason I've always been terrified of sparklers. I remember once, at a youth club in London, someone tried to hand me a sparkler, and I responded like it was an attempted murder. :D
This is it exactly! A disproportionate reaction that probably saved us while also instilling lifelong anxiety! Thanks for reading Sarah.
In fairness, if you are standing ready to cross a road and see a clown holding a balloon, in my mind it probably does mean sudden death.
So interesting, and this was an insight into some of the horrifying stuff I missed b/c of growing up in different countries/cultures. I spent my most formative years in Spain and Germany, watching a bit of local TV but mainly the American military channels we were forced to watch. Over the years, my friends and I were never sure whether these were specifically targeted towards us or all Americans abroad.
I clicked on every link in your post (thanks a lot - who knows how much time I'm going to spend on these later! 😂), can't wait to watch some of those BFI films.
In my later years I saw more of the UK ads and I remember them being more graphic, especially some of the drink driving ads that were horrific (those might have been only in Northern Ireland, though).
The Nancy Reagan 'Just Say No' campaign was the one forced down our throats. Some of the ads were so insipid, like this one (my friends and I couldn't tell if this was pro or anti-drugs!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnENVylxPI
The AIDs stuff was scary as hell too, and for the longest time we were all convinced that toilet seats and mosquitoes would give us AIDs.
Another fun American 'treat' - they were called After School Specials, 90 minute films with an educational message, most of which seemed to feature Molly Ringwald and similar actors. There was one where she slept with some hunky barman, got AIDs and well, you can imagine how that went.
OMG I totally see what you mean about that fried egg one - I think to those of a certain disposition that might actually look like fun!!! It feels as if the ad men had come to the end of their ideas at that point. Or perhaps it was all the coke they'd snorted.
The toilet seat thing really resonates - this was something my grandma had advised against, probably a war message that she herself took in. I conflated it with what I was seeing and assumed I'd get something that would kill me if I sat on one. Still, it was probably great for leg strength 🥴
That archive is a real treat - you'll loose hours perusing it!
I remember all of this ! You’re not alone with the fear ! I remember there was an add about taking heroin , it scared the life out of me ! That boat add !!!! What the heck is that about ?!!!!
I know!! Surely the chances of being on a boat with a kettle, never mind going to the trouble of boiling it for a cup of tea were slim. Perhaps we're wrong and it saved thousands of lives?!
Never mind being terrified through the screen, the clowns were once responsible for teaching kids road safety in person. The one in the "don't go pop!" video very much reminds me of one half of Rolo & Shandy who toured the infant schools of South East England in the 70s and 80s (including mine in 1986), terrifying/educating millions in how to use the roads:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=406742859698750
Thank you for showing me these people Catherine - I think! Clowns were so in back then weren't they?! I haven't met anyone who is ok with them. Having them visit schools just seems so OTT, but then again, perhaps their tactics, though heavy, did actually work?!
They certainly put a shift in covering the safety part of the curriculum. Road safety, accidents in the home, stranger danger all a case of send in the clowns at infants school, then the baton was passed on to the local theatre groups for secondary school PSHE, but as you say it must have been effective because I still remember them!
I wonder if once upon a time clowns were actually enjoyed or if they've always had this air of eerieness about them!?
What was the point of the police talking about 7 green bottles? I’m intrigued!
Great piece Faith-watching all those public information films must have been scary at the time.
Now all we seem to get is news of climate change and the threat of World War 3-let’s all hope that’s not true……….xx
Thank you Ma! xx
Fascinating mini-history of public information scaremongering, Faith. The seventies-era public information films were, as you say, terrifying.
Yes, I find "nanny state" nudges, like "Get winter-ready" annoying. And the way "issues" can sometimes take precedence over plot and character in modern dramas. You could make a bingo card of what you think will come up next. It can be done well, but is often 'by the numbers'.
Great piece, Faith!
Totally Wendy! EastEnders springs to mind - I don't watch it now, to but whenever I watch it by accident there's always some glaringly obvious mental health storyline being tagged onto a character with no context or history. It's so patronising!
Funny Faith, you can tell we are all slightly damaged by the public information film. Everything from Tufty to boiling kettles on a boat. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the advertising industry then - just to see what meetings were like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lo98PcZD4
Thanks Margaret. Me too! I'm sure there would be a lot of bowler hats and three-piece suits being worn!
As a child of the 90s I had a long list of things that didn't feature nearly as much as expected - quicksand, acid rain, quarry accidents, clowns hiding lighthouses...
My fave genre of public health ad had to be the Scottish anti-smoking ones. "I really fancy you" "That tastes boggin'" 🤣 (you maybe didn't see these!)
Didn't they create a fake anti-smoking band at some point too - Stinx? Blue sticks?
The quicksand one is too terrifying to even mention! It seems like a lot were about accidents on farms which is may be why I saw so many of these. That Scottish one is hilarious!
OMG an anti smoking band would be wild - as if anyone would be convinced by that!
Here it is! "Stinx" by NHS Scotland, 2000. Turns out I still remember all the lyrics. Also, I didn't ever smoke so... guess it worked on me?
https://youtu.be/UUjDISN08ho?si=uv-MAXSMXrAyXwY5
That’s what I was going to say!! Wow the budget was sky high in 2000 - this is almost as good as Britney 😂
As fantastic as ever Faith. I'm fully convinced that I never got into kites as a child because of *that* public service film. Absolutely harrowing.
Ha ha thanks Lewis. Yes kite makers everywhere have the right to sue I reckon.
I preferred the finger-wagging. Terrifying children to keep them safe was even better.
Remember The Finishing Line (1977)? Where kids had a kind of train-track Olympics. They had to make it across the tracks or through a tunnel without being hit by a train and we got to see the blood pouring from the wounds of the failures.
The Green Cross Man?
“Always use the green cross code because I wont be there when you cross the road.”
This sort of rings a bell. How horrific! It's also reminding me of the Railway Children when Jim gets his foot stuck in the track under a tunnel while doing a paperchase. That also scared me.
As for the Green Cross Man - you have to hand it to the writers who came up with those slogans. They were really catchy!