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Protect and Survive - Funny or Scary?

JupiterKid · 2012-01-30 02:00:07

Back in the early 1980s the UK government had a series of public service adverts that were just a little bit different from the public safety adverts that were all the rage back then. Instead of telling kiddies not to swim near waterfalls, climb electricity pylons or get into cars with strangers, it was a campaign called…

30-01-2012 03:00AM

#1

JupiterKid

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Back in the early 1980s the UK government had a series of public service adverts that were just a little bit different from the public safety adverts that were all the rage back then.

Instead of telling kiddies not to swim near waterfalls, climb electricity pylons or get into cars with strangers, it was a campaign called Protect & Survive and was to be broadcast in the event that a nuclear war looked likely.

Link to them here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yNVMm2KpiDI#!

These adverts, needless to say, these were never shown. But to do find them (with hindsight) hilarious, creepy, frightening or just plain stupid?

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#2 30-01-2012 03:05AM

Guill

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To do find them indeed.

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#3 30-01-2012 03:06AM

Underdraft

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Not funny, not really scary either. Just chilling I suppose. Like for example listening to this guy matter-of-factly telling you to wrap your dead relatives up in plastic and then bury them in the back garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HFm1t0lq8Q

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#4 30-01-2012 03:07AM

Sindri

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I find them, or that is to say I found them, to be fascinating.

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#5 30-01-2012 03:09AM

Sindri

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls

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#6 30-01-2012 03:40AM

yermanoffthetv

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I think these 2 films probably did more to educate the british population on the realities of nuclear war that any public safety ad could, in that, even if you do survive you probably wouldnt want to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQo0BQM3OlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVq76YvTPMs

Americans had a good one too but was banned i think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGEq9aipTAo

To answer your question, yea creepy as fook but thank god we dont need them anymore (hopefully!) Nuclear war is nasty business.

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#7 30-01-2012 03:49AM

Reamer Fanny

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Remember iodine tablets?

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#8 30-01-2012 03:59AM

LH Pathe

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justryan wrote: »

Remember iodine tablets?

remember isotope soap

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#9 30-01-2012 04:00AM

JupiterKid

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justryan wrote: »

Remember iodine tablets?

Yes, they were supposed to protect us from a nuclear disaster, weren't they?:rolleyes:

I find the Protect and Survive adverts very chilling - they'd be more aptly named "hide and die.":(

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#10 30-01-2012 04:01AM

policarp

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Wash your hands, please. . .and your boots. . .
It will curb the spread of "Shot in the foot and gob disease".

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#11 30-01-2012 04:03AM

policarp

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justryan wrote: »

Remember iodine tablets?

Still have them.

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#12 30-01-2012 04:08AM

Sharpshooter

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Can't remember where I put them,tbh!

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#13 30-01-2012 10:24AM

[Deleted User]
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I think the BBC/PBS could do with showing Threads again. I watched it again a few weeks ago and turned on the news and there was a report on Iran's nuclear proliferation and the subsequent American freak out. Now the rest of Europe is wading in...

And yes those ads are terrifying, especially the jingle at the start.

I'd like to have it as a ringtone!

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#14 30-01-2012 11:35AM

Fromthetrees

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

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#15 30-01-2012 11:47AM

Reamer Fanny

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JupiterKid wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

Remember iodine tablets?

Yes, they were supposed to protect us from a nuclear disaster, weren't they?:rolleyes:

I find the Protect and Survive adverts very chilling - they'd be more aptly named "hide and die.":(

Yup it was around the time of the World Trade Centre attacks and everyone was hysterical that Sellafield would be attacked so every household in Ireland got some iodine tablets madness

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#16 30-01-2012 12:46PM

Underdraft

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Fromthetrees wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

A lot of people like to put forward that Duck and Cover was nothing more than propaganda to calm niave people in the face of the inevitable. However there was some merit to the action. The main idea behind it was that if you "duck and cover" you had a better chance to avoid being struck by flying debris caused by the blast (eg flying shards of glass). Also you stood a better chance by going into hiding as soon as you heard the warning sounds as opposed to doing the natural human reaction of looking around for the source of the sounds and making yourself an easy target.

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#17 30-01-2012 01:51PM

previous user

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Underdraft wrote: »

Not funny, not really scary either. Just chilling I suppose. Like for example listening to this guy matter-of-factly telling you to wrap your dead relatives up in plastic and then bury them in the back garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HFm1t0lq8Q

dead eh

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#18 30-01-2012 02:42PM

marcsignal

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yermanoffthetv wrote: »

I think these 2 films probably did more to educate the british population on the realities of nuclear war than any public safety ad could

Quite true imo. In fact the original movie THREADS was based on was called "The War Game", made in 1965. Due to be broadcast on the BBC on the 20th anniversary of Hiroshima, it was deemed to be too horrifying for the medium of Television, and never broadcast. Full movie below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAn8KWJ26M4

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#19 30-01-2012 02:46PM

marcsignal

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K34FrY69cOI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ma_j6-9Wqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxjLRmtnTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv-l-qxhrQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OsbFI_K0LI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=defpSZs9eFQ

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#20 30-01-2012 02:49PM

marcsignal

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igiLzDsE8SU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNB5Kgn1zxQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxhXJk87JM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzX3TdvlgFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8agH1S-UXk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKDOZD0KQsA

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#21 30-01-2012 02:52PM

marcsignal

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-hWRWi5IY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XNRtQ3MBwc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-cOE4rXtlk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXJsX8CBagI

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#22 30-01-2012 03:06PM

Dudess

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They were terrifying - crappy production values or not! Weren't they shelved due to being too dodgy for national morale?

"In the event of someone dying after a nuclear attack..." :eek:

Chilling...

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#23 30-01-2012 03:10PM

Doc Ruby

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JupiterKid wrote: »

I find the Protect and Survive adverts very chilling - they'd be more aptly named "hide and die.":(

Hahaha, yeah standard military procedure was well known among the lower ranks in the event of a nuclear attack to be "put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye".

Weird to look back and think how close the world came to that end more than once.

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#24 30-01-2012 03:18PM

marcsignal

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It's scary as well, the way they seemed to be aimed at 'able bodied citizens'. Whatever chance they would have had, can you imagine what would have happened to the elderly, the sick, the disabled.......??

Well illustrated in the movie 'When The Wind Blows' which I have to admit, has caused me to well up on watching it, when I think about my own elderly parents, and how they would cope under such circumstances.

Full Movie below, a Must Watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9aHT-IlkHo

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#25 30-01-2012 03:18PM

cml387

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You have to understand the context of the time.

The new Conservative government of Britain in 1979 ordered a review of all civil defence capabilities in the UK and found them seriously deficient.

Following the logic of deterrence (I'm not making an argument for this,just stating the reasons) in that you intend to use nuclear weapons, then you must also have a good (looking) civil defence system. If not, the enemy will doubt your resolve in using nuclear weapons because you are not preparing to defend your population.

Protect and survive was just one part of the increased offensive posture adopted by the western powers in the early eighties.

Read this entry in Wikipedia about it all could have gone badly wrong.

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#26 30-01-2012 04:16PM

wendell borton

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Stanislav Petrov,

On September 26, 1983 he was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early warning system when the system reported a small launch from the United States. Petrov judged that the report was a false alarm.[1] This decision may have prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its Western allies.

The false nuclear attack warning involving Stanislav Petrov, however, is cited by CIA analyst Peter Pry as "the single most dangerous incident of the early 1980s."

Thanks to stan we are all here today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

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#27 30-01-2012 04:20PM

wendell borton

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Prepare for the Future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWvpTaBg0dQ

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#28 30-01-2012 04:40PM

Conor108

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Threads was a seriously depressing movie!

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#29 30-01-2012 04:46PM

ejmaztec

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The poor civilians being to told to shelter under an old door, whilst the government and all of their pals could laugh themselves silly below ground in nuclear bunkers, brilliant plan.

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#30 30-01-2012 04:53PM

the purple tin

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You'd be lucky if the nuclear blast killed you outright.
Any survivors in the area would have a very slow and painful death to look forward to.:(

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#31 30-01-2012 06:43PM

mongoman

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Fromthetrees wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Now that is a very appropriate use of the rolls eyes emoticon.

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