Share
twitterlinkedinfacebook
Image 1 of 1
BN_NannyState_03.jpg
BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)<br />
Pic: ThamesHudson/BNPS<br />
<br />
***Please use full byline***<br />
<br />
Keep Britain Tidy campaign began in 1954. This poster is by Royston Cooper, 1962. <br />
<br />
Nothing new in the nanny state. <br />
<br />
These nagging posters highlight Britain's 'nanny state' approach to post-war life in an age before television and the internet.<br />
<br />
The posters show successive British governments' attempts to control and influence every aspect of the lives of their citizens through visual messages.<br />
<br />
They were born out of the state's optimistic view for a post-war Britain in which every family would be properly fed, clothed and cared for.<br />
<br />
Dating back to the mid 1940s, the posters were issued by various government ministries and departments with a view to making life better for Britons.<br />
<br />
They sought to influence numerous areas of everyday life including health, hygeine, holidays, food, work, pensions, savings and crime.<br />
<br />
One poster, titled 'The seven rules of health', reminds people on how to keep clean and healthy by exercising, getting enough sleep and washing.<br />
<br />
Published by the Ministry of Health for Scotland in the early 1950s, it advises people to put clean underwear on once a week.<br />
<br />
It also urges them to wash all over every day claiming "it takes a bit of time but it's worth it, and so refreshing".