3. (c) CAMPAIGNS AND DISPLAYS.

These were originally intended as activities of Local Information Committees, but their development proceeded on such a scale as to warrant the appointment in March 1942 of a special officer for the work of organisation.

Campaigns .

The most successful campaigns were the various Recruitment and Blood Transfusion Campaigns. The latter would, however, have been enormously strengthened if the actual act of giving blood could have taken place during the run of the campaign. The tremendous publicity which ended in the signing of a promise to give blood at a subsequent date was something of an anti-climax.

Display Material .

This consisted of -

(a) Topical News Screens and Photographs - a weekly display which was quite the most popular, demand always exceeding supply. There were many confusions concerning the supply of screens and changes of policy in this connection.

(b) Picture Set Scheme . This, too, proved very popular, and the loan library which operated with the used material was greatly appreciated.

(c) National Scheme for Propaganda by Window Display . This was short lived and not a very great success.

(d) Photogravures . These were most popular and were frequently used by a number of people after the original holder had finished with them. The majority of the sites were shop windows, especially newspaper offices’ windows.

(e) Posters. On the whole, these were never issued in sufficient quantities or in sufficient variety. Without exception the most popular proved to be the really instructive posters, such as those illustrating various countries of the Empire. Highly coloured posters of the “Back Them Up” type were appreciated. Some Security Posters were regarded as silly and overdone. Posters having a message of purely pep character or morale message were despised.

Exhibitions.

The most successful have been the Exhibitions with a large number of three dimensional exhibits. Things in the solid, objects which can be touched, worked or moved made a more successful exhibition than a number of screens bearing pictures and photographs.

The custom of allocating a fixed number of posters, press advertisements, banners, etc., to each show was a handicap when staging an Exhibition, as publicity requirements were found to vary from town to town and from month to month. It would also have been a help if the Regional Officers responsible for the arrangements could have seen the Exhibitions before they were put on the road.

The fact that most of the material was too big for anywhere but the big halls in large cities were another difficulty encountered. In future it might be as well to consider the possibility of very small Exhibition units which could be shown in country towns. The possibility of touring Exhibition vans has never really been developed by the M.O.I., although other Government Departments and Voluntary Societies have done very well with them.

Both Campaigns and Exhibitions would have been much strengthened had they been more closely tied up with the work of the Meetings Department and that of the Films Department.

The policy of showing in stores proved very successful, more so than in Art Galleries and Museums. Much more use could be made of really well known people as official openers and first-rate lecturers during the course of an Exhibition.

Pamphlets , etc.,

Pamphlets appeared in December 1939. The principle of distribution was to pass them to speakers and to the Chairmen and Secretaries of Information Committees. They were also distributed to the editors of provincial newspapers through the Press Department. The pamphlets have varied very much in quality; many have been extremely dreary, lacking in colour and illustrations. Much greater use might be made of diagrams in the presentations of statistical material.

Special Days.

Red Army Day. The most successful ever organised in this Region was held in Oxford with a number of distinguished speakers, including the then Minister, Mr. Brendan Bracken.

United Nations Day . These, too, have been popular since their inception in 1942. They were not long lived, however, and were not as popular as the efforts on behalf of the different allies treated as different individual nations.