Bring back public safety adverts!

[sunlovingcriminal]

Following on from another thread about the annoyance that people tailgating brings, made me reminisce about adverts from the 80s, like "only a fool breaks the two second rule"...

Why did they stop I wonder? And would there be any benefit in bringing them back?!

I know twerp drivers would likely remain twerp drivers, but in my head catchy adverts would help!!

And they could bring out new ones, like looking up from your phone when crossing the road... "look up from your screen, or be a has been..." 😂

Any other suggestions?!

Come to Northern Ireland - we still have plenty!! Allegedly our road safety ads are amongst the most realistic and graphic in the world..

Those of us who remember Death lurking around kids swimming in lonely water, or playing on railway lines were impressed for life. They should be redone for modern dangers!

https://www.google.com/search?q=1970s+adverts+death+at+swimming&rlz=1C1CHZN_enGB1020GB1020&oq=1970s+adverts+death+at+swimming&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRifBdIBCTEwMjcxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:774f900d,vid:xZWD2sDRESk,st:0

Oh I don't know... some of the ones from the 70s when I was a child used to give me nightmares. They had the grim reaper and everything!

Actually though I do agree. I've often said to DH that there should be a PSB about various things.

I think there's quite a few on MN who would like to live under Scarfolk Council.

Problem is kids don’t watch live tv so probably don’t get big enough audiences to justify the cost.

Yes! I fucking love PSAs/PIFs, and can talk about them for hours.

If you look on Youtube, there are some pretty gruesome modern ones that are very hard hitting.

But in this generation of snowflakes, them being shown on terrestrial TV is bound to upset loads of people, even if the message behind them is sound.

Great idea. I've considered loads of options and these would be my first campaigns:

How to use lanes on motorways and dual carriageways.

How to support teachers admonishing badly behaved children rather than the children

How to consume media and think critically

How to post on social media responsibly

Perhaps there should be an episode of Bing where he messes about with Hoppity on an escalator instead of listening to Flop and is torn to rabbity pieces at the bottom.

In Ireland they have "The temperature may hit 24° this week, so be sure to stay in the shade and watch out for your elderly neighbours" and "Many fridges are fuller than usual after Christmas. Make sure they are still functioning to adequately chill your turkey meat."

These were on the radio, not TV.

Austerity killed this. The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. The 2010 the Coalition government closed it down to save money.

They’d do well on YouTube though.

What about "wear a bike helmet and wear high viz when cycling on a 60mph road you utter twats" (I couldn't make it rhyme)

I seriously think they should reintroduce the green cross code man, I swear people just wander aimlessly into the road glued to their bloody phones far too often it’s ridiculous.

The last one I remember in recent times was the seatbelt one where the passenger in the back is thrown forwards, that one really stayed with me.

@Hatty65 That water safety/grim reaper is pretty effective. When I was a child, electricity safety ads were still common. I guess public utilities had budgets for that sort of thing

We were made to watch them at school. All rural children of the 70s were scared by watching Apaches.

Ah, the one wear the lad is thrown forward and kills his own mum?

I am an 80s child, and I remember being made to watch them in school. Ones about fires, train tracks, electricity substations etc.

I still remember the one about a child being trapped in an dumped fridge.

Wow! I remember nearly all of these!

I recently did a speed awareness course and I thought a few bits on there could be a public broadcast.

Also, a public broadcast in how to avoid condensation would be amazing!!!

Ooh, I often wondered what a speed awareness course was like (and I know people who have done drink driving ones too).

Avoiding condensation is easy. Just stop breathing 😆

I drive across a level crossing twice a day and have to slow down to scan the line.
I'm still scarred from all those films.😬

I'm sure the twitter / YouTube account 'Scarred for life' has a playlist of the old public broadcast ads. I can't seem to find it easily though.

I think banks should be made to make safety adverts for avoiding scams. "Your bank will never ask for your whole password", "never ask you to move money to another bank account" etc

They already do

not many people watch adverts any more, it would be a waste of money