How the government tried to win hearts and minds during the Northern Ireland troubles

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How the government tried to win hearts and minds during the Northern Ireland troubles

By Paul Walter | Tue 5th June 2018 - 2:16 pm

Follow @paulwalteruk

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Available for the next 17 days on BBC iPlayer, there’s a very interesting documentary produced by BBC Northern Ireland. It chronicles the public service television adverts that were commissioned by the Northern Ireland office between 1988 and 1998.

This is obviously a genre of adverts which are relatively unknown in Great Britain. They range from toe-curling to powerful. It seems that, as the series progressed, the advertising people carried out research and there was a sophisticated effort to play on feelings about family and the opinions of women.

Anyway, see for yourself. This is an excellent documentary narrated by Eamonn Holmes and including views from those who made the adverts and people across the spectrum of Northern Ireland.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.

Read more by Paul Walter or more about northern ireland.
This entry was posted in TV and film.

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3 Comments

Dav 6th Jun '18 - 10:36am

Does it have Cat’s in the Cradle on it?
Paul Walter 6th Jun '18 - 1:43pm

Yes indeed.
Dav 6th Jun '18 - 2:09pm

I’ll be having a watch of that then.

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