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Has an advertising campaign ever changed your behaviour?
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I think it did mine. In the mid 80's there was a very hard-hitting drink driving campaign, in which grieving family members - genuine, not actors - talked about their dead or catastrophically disabled relatives. I used to ride a motorbike, and fooled myself that it was all right to drink and drive because I would only hurt myself in an accident. (I remember - and I am not proud of this - actually being helped onto my bike after a party.) I remember that one of the people in the campaign talked about losing her daughter, who had the same name as my daughter. I never drank and drove again.
What seems more bizarre now is that in the 1970's I had a fur coat.
I bought it second (or 20th) hand in Brighton and felt like the last word in cool. It was a balding, scraggy object, but warm and soft, and even though I was at a very left-wing, right-on university, it attracted precisely no negative comments. Would I walk out of the house in a fur coat now? HELL no.
What seems more bizarre now is that in the 1970's I had a fur coat.
I bought it second (or 20th) hand in Brighton and felt like the last word in cool. It was a balding, scraggy object, but warm and soft, and even though I was at a very left-wing, right-on university, it attracted precisely no negative comments. Would I walk out of the house in a fur coat now? HELL no. 0
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And "public service announcements" are generally patronising as hell.
Tesco do some lovely "spicey chicken burgers" which taste exactly like zingers on a bun with a bit of lettuce and mayo'.
The ad had an absolutely heartbroken mum who had lost her daughter in a crash following 'a lot of activity on her phone'. She said something along the lines of 'if you think you're the only one in that car, think again'. It just stuck. I've known too many people to lose their lives on the road so I just try to do everything by the book (now). (I used to be awful. Speeding, eating, reading...
I just think if I was involved in a fatal accident (ETA: not me. Duh.) I would never forgive myself as it is, without thinking it was due to me using the phone, going a bit over the speed limit, lighting a cigarette, checking out my absolutely fantastic eye make-up, etc.
A school boy, smiling and joking in a school canteen, was sucking food from his knife in his mouth when a boy next to him accidentally elbowed him. This froze as a long pain-filled scream was let out. Then the sounds of panicked voices and hysterical crying.
Straight after this, it showed a real-life photo gallery of glum-looking children, all in hospital gowns, with vivid-red, newly-stitched injuries at their mouth corners. One photo had a boy with some jaw flesh hanging off a long, gaping wound and the next photo, the same boy with his long wound covered in black stitches. Pretty graphic.
I never put a knife in mine, but wasn't bothered when friends did this. After seeing that gallery, I was vigilant in stopping them from doing this.
Edited:
I can't find the advert, but some of you might find this useful: An online exhibition of public information films (1945-2006) at the National Archives.
Kinda related....
I was recently watching an episode of Mythbusters where they were investigating how much germs get spread around by contact and via sneezing.
The whole thing was very enlightening but the one main thing they realised was that if you're going to cough or sneeze you should really be doing it into the crook of your elbow.
This is more hygienic than using a hanky 'cos the hanky's in your hands and you then touch stuff with your hands.
Talking to an American mate, this is quite widely known in the USA but I've yet to meet anybody in the UK who knows this is what they really "should" be doing.
Perhaps an advertising campaign wouldn't go amiss there?
The old advert where it showed an 'invisible' trail of bacteria from raw chicken, on things you might touch after handling it.
It has stuck in my mind every time I cook chicken and to this day, due to that campaign, I am fanatical about being careful with chicken.
What about forks?
We need a Renaissance in telling it like it is.
Another: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1964to1979/filmpage_hammer.htm
I bet the Jimmy Savile Clunk-Click adverts are really stomach turning these days.
But I draw the line at that and won't post a link.
I've never run across a railway line and got my football boots caught under the track either. And I always look both ways when crossing the road and never got into a strangers car or van to see their new puppies.
a decade ago
Helen - is there any chicken in chick peas ?............:p
But seriously, I ALWAYS wear a seat belt and NEVER drink and drive.
I'm not gonna say anything about the YES/NO vote for Scotland, except..... both Salmond and Darling don't convince me either way.
(Doesn’t bother me so much now as I don’t cook meat at home).
ETA: probably the same one as radiomaniacs:
There was also a tale of a fly who played with matches and burnt the insect kingdom to the ground, he was punished by having his back-end lit on fire, it glowed as a warning to other children to not play with fire. That stuck with me too, but didn’t alter my behaviour as I wasn’t all that bothered with matches in the first place.