Pithy public information film, promoting healthy food choices using highly analogue media

This public information filler, from the COI on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, occupies a transitional moment in the history of dietary health communication using moving image. Made in the late 20th century, it’s equally removed from the home-front ‘Food Flashes’ projected into 1940s cinemas, and today’s digitally delivered nutritional advice. In 1994, the Internet existed, but not yet in most homes or with much informational or creative capacity. So this film was run during TV ad breaks, promoting a physical booklet and a phone number to request it. But its visual concept, presumably the brainchild of an ad agency whizz-kid, is a strong one, effectively using a well-edited mix of live action and graphics to convey the concept of overload of conflicting information… delivered on paper.

Some would argue that the Ministry had a conflict of interest, representing both producers and consumers of food. You’d probably need to read the booklet to find out how well they navigated that. And now you know what number to call to get hold of it.

Government sposored film about the Food Sense leaflet.