Action 2000: Booklet As Hero

1999

Public information short with Nick Ross reassuring the public there is no need for nightmares about the Millennium Bug.

The Year 2000 problem, or 'Millennium Bug', threatened businesses around the world in the late-1990s. But one of the biggest difficulties for Government was in helping the public separating the facts from often alarmist fiction. The root of the issue was a space-saving decision in the early years of computing to codify the year in dates as a two-digit rather than four-digit numbers, a practice which was still in place decades on. So, with the 20th century rapidly running out there was a need to reprogramme computer systems so that at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, they would tick over from 1999 to 2000, and not back to '00'.

The UK Government's Action 2000 agency kicked off its information campaign in 1998, primarily targeting businesses, under the correct assumption that this was where most preparation was required. But the release of this mass audience campaign in October 1999, and the decision to deliver a booklet to every household in Britain shows that a bit of public reassurance was required. Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross doesn't say his famous "Don't Have Nightmares" catchphrase, but his moderating screen presence clearly made him the perfect frontman for the campaign.

Public information TV filler warning of dangers of Millenium Bug.

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.