Bring back public information films!

[Glitterbiscuits]

I think we seriously need a return of basic common sense guidance in the UK — more help, less confusion, and less reliance on unreliable social media posts.

It feels like proper public information films have basically disappeared. The most recent one I can even remember is the CPR campaign with Vinnie Jones, teaching chest compressions to the tune of Staying Alive.

Maybe the big soap operas could even cover some of these issues, because people genuinely don’t know things they should know. For example, I’ve met several people who have no idea we should be taking vitamin D supplements over winter in the UK.
I’ve sat in concerts with people still wearing their hats!
I honestly think this reluctance to be seen as a “nanny state” isn’t helping anyone.
We could easily have public information films covering things like:
Washing your hands! It’s incredible to think people needed to be told this during COVID.
Avoiding online scams
Bank security and spotting fake texts
Basic food hygiene
Everyday courtesy (letting people off the train before you push on, not blocking doorways, etc.)
Keep Britain Tidy-style campaigns

Not preachy. Just practical. A bit of guidance would make daily life better for everyone.

“I’ve sat in concerts with people still wearing their hats!” 🤣

Sorry, had to laugh at that one. I think there’s more important things money could be spent on than a public information video instructing people to remove their hats at concerts. What’s wrong with wearing a hat at a concert anyway? I agree with most of what you’ve said though - especially for CPR/what to do in emergency situations. This should be taught in school as standard. But when it comes to stuff like letting people off trains etc, that’s basic manners that parents should be teaching their kids, we don’t need public information videos to tell us how to be polite. I suspect people who barge people out the way on public transport know they’re being arseholes but just don’t care

As a child of the seventies, I would not have survived without knowing about the dangers of quicksand, rabies and not having picnics on the motorway.

No, hats indoors isn’t a massive issue but it’s still bad manners. And that’s the thing lots of kids are not being taught good manners.
Loads of things that could be covered like keeping children away from open water, staying off thin ice and don’t follow your dog onto it.
Maybe something on nutrition?
I would like to see compulsory first aid taught in schools. More things on putting meals together and health generally
Then also financial education but at the moment there isn’t. Budget cuts have left lots of schools without compulsory cooking for example
I think there seems to be massive gaps of practical and useful knowledge.
So I view the public information films as a way of filling in the gaps

And also not throwing frisbees at electricity pylons

Agree totally. Basic table manners. The incorrect use of the butter knife. William Hanson deserves a peerage for his work.

@Glitterbiscuits I think that's a great idea - they used to fascinate me. I loved the cartoon ones about not dropping rubbish in the countryside and not going near rail lines.

@Waitingforthesunnydays Sadly many people do not have basic manners so it would be a great way to get the message across.

Crossing the road would be welcome, especially as more people wear ear buds and ear phones road crossing by some isn’t great.
I can remember the green cross man and other films they showed at school. The finishing line about not playing on train lines was quite harrowing though.

Rabies was a big deal in my day. It really scared me and the ones around fireworks too.

I dont think people would pay attention to them these days. We are bombarded by information on various screens day and night and I genuinely dont think they would hit the way they used to.

I was born in the 60s and remember (and enjoyed) so many of the Public Information short films and still watch them on YouTube from time to time.

To this day I still adhere to the “Wear Something White at Night” (especially important in the Winter evenings when it gets dark so early) although unlike the woman in the ‘advert’ I don’t wear a white headscarf and although the man was carrying a newspaper, who reads those these days? :)

I’m now going to look up the old “Charlie Says” PI films with the cartoon cat :)

Oooh - I just typed in Public Information films on YouTube and it shows the fab Petunia and Joe coastguard and countryside PI films. Glorious!

Ah yes, don’t build a bonfire and go to sleep in it. Wise words.

There was a health one too, it showed a portly chap having twelvty pints and some chips and loads of fags, and then him sitting on the sofa rubbing his belly. This was all to point out the dangers of heart disease.

There were also sort of filler films they’d put on at the end of the evening if the running order had got out of whack. The one about Pendennis Castle seemed to be near the top of the continuity pile.

I do feel that teenagers ( in particular) would just ridicule any such films now.
Can you also imagine the memes or the froth about ‘ nanny state’ waste of money and why can’t they parents teach them ? Which are valid points, but clearly some things like crossing the road safely were important in the 70s with increasing car use.

Also a child of the 70,s im still a bit wary of escalators and mske surevi give myself plenty of time to get off.

Not forgetting Joe and Petunia!
https://share.google/c2ddIysPf9WVXYIoY

Oh that cloth doll that got ripped! Tragic!

The one about STD’s ( ‘VD ‘ was how it was described in the 70s) was particularly harrowing.
As was smoking , it really did put me off even trying a cigarette.

Which reminds me of the tombstone adverts of the 80,s Don't die of ignorance campaign.
Absolutely terrifying.

As a child of the seventies I was terrified of the grim reaper hovering around near misty water. Also useful to know not to hide in an abandoned, fly tipped fridge or freezer whilst out playing!

I agree with you OP, common sense doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore and a few public information films wouldn’t go amiss

An old one I’ve thought of recently when driving in the dark, that could do with a remake - is ‘Wear Something Light At Night!’

Especially now, when so many people seem to wear black coats or jackets.

I think that in order to have any impact these days they'd need to be properly frightening and hard-hitting - I'm thinking like the 70s one about kids playing on farms, if anyone of around my age remembers that one, it was like watching a horror film 😱Likewise the one with kids playing along a railway line and most of them ending up dead. 😬

And there were a couple of very visually startling ones maybe a decade or so back (in Ireland I think? - I saw them on YouTube but never on TV) where a car that's being drunk-driven flips and crushes people to death - I think that kind of thing does hit home, but these days I also think there'd be too many complaints about upsetting content.

I do like the idea of a PIF telling people to take their hats off in the theatre, though, OP. (Not mocking you, it just amused me. 😄)

They did have that one about bank scams not all that long ago, didn't they? (I'll probably find it was 20 years ago or something now!)

The one with (iirc) Diane Morgan posing as a caller 'from your bank' and tricking the person into giving her their PIN - I'll always remember that nasty, sinister face she pulled at the end.

We could definitely do with a new one to inform people that, if it's very dark, switching on a light will make things much easier and safer - for you to see and be seen by others. You'd think that most of us would have learned this by the age of 2, but I'm guessing that it isn't toddlers driving all of the cars I regularly see without headlights on extremely dark mornings and dismal early dusk.

I also agree with the OP. Definitely yes to a crossing the road one. Also, litter! It's horrendous round here (semi-rural). People chucking drinks cans from cars. They need to be taught a sense of belonging, and respect for the countryside, that it's not something you do to places you value.

Yes. Driving would be useful. Years ago when I used to read my dad's Daily Telegraph they had a driving column. I learnt, for example, that you should put your lights on if your windscreen wipers are on. Also little driving 'etiquette' tips that people just don't seem to know these days.

Hats indoors 😂

I may or may not have forgotten to take my beanie off in the pub the other day….