"Clunk Click Every Trip" is the slogan of a series of British

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

s, commencing in the summer of 1970 presented by

Shaw Taylor Eric Stanley Taylor (26 October 1924 – 17 March 2015), known professionally as Shaw Taylor, was a British actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme ''Police 5''. Early life and c ...

, then in January 1971, starring

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...

. The BBC adapted Savile's slogan for the title of his Saturday night variety show beginning in 1973. The slogan was introduced during the previous campaign, fronted by

and featuring the slogan "Your seatbelt is their security". However, it was the onomatopoeia used by Taylor to describe the act of closing the door and fastening a seatbelt which proved the most memorable aspect of the campaign, and so it was upgraded to act as the slogan when the films moved into colour. The advertisements highlighted the dangers of traffic collisions and reminded drivers that the first thing they should do after closing the door ("Clunk") is fasten their seatbelt ("Click"). These advertisements, which included graphic sequences of drivers being thrown through the windscreen and, in one Savile-hosted

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

, an image of a disfigured woman who survived such an accident helped lay the groundwork for compulsory seatbelt use in the front seat of a vehicle, which came into force on 31 January 1983 in the UK, although car manufacturers had been legally obliged to fit front seatbelts since 1965.

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Clunk Click – Shopping with Jimmy Savile
National Archives
The message clicks
BBC News, 1 February 2006 Automotive safety British advertising slogans Public information films Jimmy Savile 1971 in the United Kingdom 1971 neologisms 1993 disestablishments Seat belts 1971 films 1970s educational films British educational films {{1970s-UK-film-stub

See also

References

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