Pant-Wettingly Scary Public Information Films

[CarlosTheDJ]

Does anyone have a link to that infomercial from (I think) the 90s where the boy is being ignored by everyone and then he walks into the road and the car goes through him?

I was an adult then and it still scared me!

Yup, I saw that one, possibly only once. Would like to see it again. :shock:

I couldn't find it, but I did find this! http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1979to2006/

EDIT Even better, I found this which has all the old classics. Didn't go through every one but your vid may be in there http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1979to2006/

It does include the mighty Nick O'Tine anti-smoking cartoons, plus.....



...and this horror.....

 

[GNC]

Still no sign of hypothermia bloke! It was on every winter for ages and now - pht, nothing.

 

[FrKadash]

Just saw this brilliant PIF from 1980 had to share it,

 

[David Plankton]

Just saw this brilliant PIF from 1980 had to share it,

The colours are amazing, I love the sunset. Not a PIF I've seen before.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

The colours are amazing, I love the sunset. Not a PIF I've seen before.

Do you not remember that? Not prolific but was a around for a couple of years.

 

[maximus otter]

A huge government success! After decades of PIFs intended to prevent one child in a million from falling out of a tree or drowning under ice, we’ve raised a generation of whom 25% to 50% will die years early due to heart disease and diabetes caused by inactivity.

Trebles all round!

maximus otter

 

[David Plankton]

Do you not remember that? Not prolific but was a around for a couple of years.

Nope, weird that because I would have been glued to the telly in 1980 and I've watched loads of compilations on youtube as well.

 

[Analogue Boy]

How sad that a modern PIF would probably be about sexting or internet bullying.

 

[David Plankton]

Charlie Brooker would be a good choice to make modern day PIFs.

If they were making one today it should be set in an evidence room at a police station. Someone takes down all these boxes that each contain a phone which was the cause of a road traffic accident. They take out phones, which are cracked and splashed with blood and read the last text message that the now deceased owner read/sent whilst they were at the wheel. The pointless mundanity of these messages is highlighted to show how idiotic and avoidable these deaths were.

 

[Analogue Boy]

I’d like to see one called ‘Safe Space’ for new university students.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Part of my job is helping to make these kind of films - they live on Youtube and social media now though.

 

[GNC]

A huge government success! After decades of PIFs intended to prevent one child in a million from falling out of a tree or drowning under ice, we’ve raised a generation of whom 25 to 50% will die years early due to heart disease and diabetes caused by inactivity.

Trebles all round!

maximus otter

Isn't that more to do with the allure of the internet and gaming keeping us all indoors? Also a recent survey in Scotland proved millions of pounds had been wasted encouraging the population to get out and do sport (proper sport, not unsupervised and potentially dangerous activities like climbing trees or running over frozen ponds) because the vast majority were "too embarrassed" to be seen exercising so didn't bother. Maybe there should be a "Don't Be Embarrassed!" PIF. Which presumably would be excruciatingly embarrassing in itself.

 

[GNC]

Just saw this brilliant PIF from 1980 had to share it,

Yes, I remember that one, very haunting as some of the best were. But where is hypothermia man? I'm STILL looking for him over 30 years later! Every winter he was there, stumbling through the snow, and now he's been wiped from the face of the Earth.

 

[maximus otter]

The one PIF that really made an impression on me was an anti-litter one:

Ooh-yah!

I lived by a rocky beach on Skye. Next to it was a layby where the numb of nut would park and drink, then throw the empty bottles (usually blue stripe vodka) out of the car window, ignoring the conveniently-placed litter bin. God knows how much broken glass I removed from that beach. Did the otters or seals ever thank me? Not a blinkin' word!

maximus otter

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Yes, I remember that one, very haunting as some of the best were. But where is hypothermia man? I'm STILL looking for him over 30 years later! Every winter he was there, stumbling through the snow, and now he's been wiped from the face of the Earth.

I remember it well but the most I can find is a possible title - 'Do Not Lie Down and Sleep'. Doesn't help locate it though.

A favourite from that period - 'My Dad...in our new car!'

 

[GNC]

I remember it well but the most I can find is a possible title - 'Do Not Lie Down and Sleep'. Doesn't help locate it though.

A favourite from that period - 'My Dad...in our new car!'

The music in Children Watch Us Cross is brilliant! But this year I finally found Graham Stark giving directions on parking in pidgin French to a lorry driver after over 30 years, so I hold out hope for hypothermia guy. "This man is not drunk..."

Not scary (really) but I'd like to see the Royal Navy crashed helicopter simulation PIF again too, in the big water tank. "Let's do it again!"

 

[GNC]

The one PIF that really made an impression on me was an anti-litter one:

Ooh-yah!

I lived by a rocky beach on Skye. Next to it was a layby where the numb of nut would park and drink, then throw the empty bottles (usually blue stripe vodka) out of the car window, ignoring the conveniently-placed litter bin. God knows how much broken glass I removed from that beach. Did the otters or seals ever thank me? Not a blinkin' word!

maximus otter

I think you could show that PIF to someone you suspected of being a space alien, and if they didn't flinch at the final second or two you'd know for sure they were not of this Earth.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

I think you could show that PIF to someone you suspected of being a space alien, and if they didn't flinch at the final second or two you'd know for sure they were not of this Earth.

or use it with a Voight-Kampff.

 

[FrKadash]

But where is hypothermia man? I'm STILL looking for him over 30 years later! Every winter he was there, stumbling through the snow, and now he's been wiped from the face of the Earth.

Yeah it's a shame that it hasn't found its way to YouTube yet, think it was called, Do Not Lie Down and Sleep.

*Edit
Just noticed Dr_Baltar already posted the name, will have to check now and then in case someone uploads it.

 

[GNC]

Yeah it's a shame that it hasn't found its way to YouTube yet, think it was called, Do Not Lie Down and Sleep.

*Edit
Just noticed Dr_Baltar already posted the name, will have to check now and then in case someone uploads it.

I've been checking since YT started! It wasn't even on either volume of Network's Charley Says DVDs.

 

[escargot]

Isn't that more to do with the allure of the internet and gaming keeping us all indoors? Also a recent survey in Scotland proved millions of pounds had been wasted encouraging the population to get out and do sport (proper sport, not unsupervised and potentially dangerous activities like climbing trees or running over frozen ponds) because the vast majority were "too embarrassed" to be seen exercising so didn't bother. Maybe there should be a "Don't Be Embarrassed!" PIF. Which presumably would be excruciatingly embarrassing in itself.

Some years ago there was a big survey about why girls in school didn't take to sport. One of the main reasons was the old-fashioned and unflattering kit they had to wear: semi-transparent/underwear-showing tops, little skirts that flashed the pants, that sort of thing. School sports gear hadn't kept up with the times, it seemed.

Dunno what the outcome was but one hopes things were updated a little.

 

[Cochise]

Sound like St Trinians. Those school uniforms of the 60's and 70's severely affected us blokes too . Especially since, going to an all boys school, we were unaware what exactly went on inside the girl's uniforms, except we knew whatever it was did strange things to our nether regions.

Chaps with sisters were eagerly plumbed for information, but some of us were slow learners.

Perhaps some sort of public information film would have prevented the development of all sorts of mild fetishes.

 

[escargot]

Sound like St Trinians. Those school uniforms of the 60's and 70's severely affected us blokes too . Especially since, going to an all boys school, we were unaware what exactly went on inside the girl's uniforms, except we knew whatever it was did strange things to our nether regions.

Chaps with sisters were eagerly plumbed for information, but some of us were slow learners.

Perhaps some sort of public information film would have prevented the development of all sorts of mild fetishes.

Yeah, a PIF about schoolgirl physiology, that wouldn't be immediately banned and the director prosecuted AT ALL.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Perhaps some sort of public information film would have prevented the development of all sorts of mild fetishes.

Or encourage new ones to develop...

 

[Cochise]

I meant without the uniforms...oh, never mind.

It's not just the blokes, you know - my missus liked a bit of retro dress-up as well - any fancy dress party and the old school tie would come out.

 

[henry]

if you think 13 year old girls should come with public safety advice, what about the full-grown adult version ???

 

[Spookdaddy]

The music in Children Watch Us Cross is brilliant! But this year I finally found Graham Stark giving directions on parking in pidgin French to a lorry driver after over 30 years, so I hold out hope for hypothermia guy. "This man is not drunk..."...

Oh, wow - you don't have a link, do you; I've spent fruitless hours looking for that and would love to see it again. Edit: don't worry - found it. Wasn't on YT last time I looked.

There's a wee bit of a film I always associate with PIF's, but which I don't think was - it just tended to be shown in the same time slots. (I think it may have been an advert for the National Trust, or something similar.)

Anyway, said filmlet opened and ended with a duel between two swordsmen (with images of castles and bosky woods etc inbetween), and I found it most disconcerting to begin my morning viewing of Belle and Sebastian or Tintin prefaced by seeing a man quite graphically run through with a rapier.

 

[Cochise]

if you think 13 year old girls should come with public safety advice, what about the full-grown adult version ???

Oh, the full grown ones even more!

Sexual awareness was completely different back then - we preferred train spotting to girls until at least 15!

 

[FrKadash]

Natural Born Smoker (1985), directed by Barry Myers

 

[INT21]

As for frozen ponds.

How about 'Under Ice' by Kate Bush ?

INT21