Youtube Public Information Films Sweepstake

The last in the series of the Sweepstake posts, designed to give you a taste of the vast choice of clips/shows that will feature here on this blog:

Public Information Films or "PIFs", are either adverts, 5-30 minute short films, advising you the citizen how to either evade danger, not to take what is unhealthy for you, or just generally advising you on new features, like the motorway, back in the day.

Fireworks: Don't Be A Dummy 1988 Public Info Film



80's scare-mongering at it's scariest and finest! Short but downright goosebumps ridden advert-sized PIF. The eerie, hard hitting sounds pound right through you, as the images of children's faces, and then speeds up and and climaxes with a firework exploding, then to portrayed as exploding in the face of a child. What's happening is an indoor experiment of how a loaded firework can do when aimed at child's eye, represented by a grey mould of child's face. Then it gets even more creepy as non-appearing kids shouts "don't be a dummy, don't throw fireworks!" Other firework PIF's followed in the 80's and 90's but nothing as wonderfully deranged and as directful since. I haven't seen firwork PIF's around much these days. Maybe I'm not up at the right times to see. However, after this, firework PIF creators should've just packed up and left, because nothing will surpass this as getting the message across, and a re-introduction of ad would be welcome, come any November.

Public Information Film Charley Says.....Strangers



The "Charley Says" animated series is one of the most well-known of UK PIFs. It ran, especially the "Strangers" episode for literally years. Produced in 1973, it ran through the 80s and possibly the early 90s too, if my memory serves me right. The boy was voiced by an authentic 7 year old boy, who was the son of the producer's (Richard Taylor) next door neighbour. Charley is the name of the cat who in most episodes bar 1, to advise the boy away from danger. The boy seemed to be able to understand what Charley was saying, which were weird, mangled meiows, voiced by Radio personality and future television entertainer Kenny Everett.

Peter Kay on Public Information Films



A flashback with many clips from at the time, future insanely popular stand-up comedian, Peter Kay. Kay has engineered alot of his gentle comedy around nostalgia and that include TV nostalgia quite a bit. Before he made the big time, you could see him many times on certain nostalgic shows like the "I Love" BBC series. Was there to make his face more known on TV, or for his passion for nostalgia? I would say a bit of both, but turning more to passion for nostalgia, he engineered a career from it, for the holy mother. Mentioned are "Splink", the road safety PIF by Jon Pertwee, and David Prowse as the Green Cross Code Man.