Child Internet Safety

2002-12-19

''Stranger danger' takes a sinister new form in this chilling public information film.

Even as the worldwide web was still in its infancy, it became clear that for all the new wonders it offered, there were fresh dangers too - most sinisterly of all, the risk that kids' internet chatrooms might be haunted by paedophile 'groomers' using false identities.

'Stranger danger' has been a theme of government public information films since at least the 1960s, with earlier Central Office of Information films like 'Always Tell Your Mummy', from the popular animated 'Charley Says' series, imprinted on the memories of a generation. But as this chilling little film shows, convincing kids to be wary of strange men offering sweets in the playground is one thing, but it's quite another making them understand that their exciting new online 'friends' may not be what they seem...

The device employed here - having an adult actor mouthing a young boy's words - is as simple as it is effective, all the more so for the actor's blank expression and the drab room he sits in. But how effectively the message reached its intended audience is less straightforward. By the early 2000s, old habits of 'linear' TV viewing were dying, and 'time-shifting' - watching recorded programmes later, or pausing live TV - was increasingly allowing viewers to bypass advert breaks, and so miss public information films like this one. Distribution online, meanwhile, wasn't really a viable prospect yet, with access to 'broadband' services still some years away for most homes.

Public information film warning viewers to keep children safe online by not to giving out personal details.

Be Careful Out There!: Public Information Fillers

How the COI used wit, imagination and fear to keep us out of harm's way.

For over 60 years, the Central Office of Information gently persuaded, humorously cajoled and even terrified us in the name of keeping us safe and well. The COI oversaw all kinds of government messaging in print, posters and radio as well as film and video, and much of it bypassed the British public (intended to encourage trade or other overseas interests, or as training for officials). But the COI is best remembered for its public safety campaigns, especially its 'public information fillers': short, direct messages warning us off myriad dangers, from cigarettes to slippery floors, fireworks to fridges, and shown in advert breaks on big screen or small. Many fillers from the 1970s and 80s - like Charley Says, the Green Cross Code Man and The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water - are now considered classics, enjoyed by generations who weren't even born when they were made. This collection takes up the story after that 'golden age', and sees the COI enter the digital era. In the process, the public information fillers took on a new visual sheen and their makers embraced a new bag of video tricks. But they also faced off new dangers, from the distractions of texting while driving to the menace of online predators. Ultimately, though, the COI met a foe it couldn’t fight, when at the end of 2011 it closed after 65 years, a victim of the coalition government's austerity.