Keyword Public Information Film

With its simple and iconic imagery this was public information film at its most sensational: expensive special effects and high-concept production design brought public information filmmaking into the realm of state-of-the-art corporate advertising. The film was the result of a £5 million cinema and television campaign aimed at combating the growing spread of HIV and AIDS. With restrictions around the overt promotion of condom use on television and a growing chorus of moral campaigners promulgating their own agenda, the straightforward and doom-laded approach was probably the only viable option for campaign mastermind Sammy Harari. But the result was a hard-hitting and memorable campaign which undoubtedly fulfilled its brief of pervading public consciousness. There are two versions; the one shown in cinemas did not feature John Hurt's famous voiceover.

Featuring the voiceover of Sir Anthony Hopkins, this public information film from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society starts out rather innocently with beautiful hand-painted animation. It describes how once a year a large group of pilot whales swim to a small group of islands known as the Faroe Islands.

John Hurt narrates this highly charged and doom-laden public information film from the 1987 AIDS awareness campaign. A cliff-face explodes in slow motion; an industrial drill bores into a huge block of rock; the word 'AIDS' is chiselled into the polished surface of a granite headstone and a "Don't Die of Ignorance" leaflet drops onto the surface along with an elegiac bouquet of white lilies. The solemnity of the accompanying voice-over quells any vestiges of ambiguity.

Poetic tribute to Mrs Turner's vegetable growing prowess, plus the delights of "wartime steaks".

Government information film on how to get maximum wear from a man's suit, narrated by one such suit in the form of an autobiography.

An explicit anti-rape film.

Ernie tells Eric to ‘be wise’ and not drive home after their Christmas party.

Sid James learns of the joys of owning a budgerigar.

Anti-tobacco PSA by the Arizona Department of Health Services, with its campaign aimed at teenagers which ran between the mid-90s to early 2000s. This is one of their later ones, which uses the dark and disturbing imagery of a factory that produces both cigarettes and the teenagers who smoke them.

As part of a wider anti-litter message, this film addresses the problems of rubbish left on beaches.

Ever had a good experience with doorstep salespeople? Maybe you were lucky, but the doorstep has never seemed the best place for a sensible sales decision – which is exactly why companies use it.

A dancing radio stops partying to transmit an announcement on fuel conservation in this WWII cartoon short.

The effortlessly comic abandons the stress of his city job to work on a farm.

Drinking chocolate flashes before your eyes and makes an offer you can't refuse.

Hard-hitting depiction of the danger to children of burns and scalds.

Unambiguous message, unpretentiously inventive animation and a blackly comic tone.

A hard-hitting public information film made at the height of the Great Influenza 1918-18.

A provoking film on the place of women.

The Ministry of Labour exhorts women to return to industry – the post-war production drive depends on them.

This informative herring aid from WWII makes no bones about the need to make the most of every fish.