Declining voter turnout is an issue in Aotearoa's politics- but even when voter turnout was high the authorities wanted to make sure everyone was enrolled. This advertising slide would have been screened in cinemas alongside commercial advertising and ads for upcoming movies. With the average Kiwi making seventeen trips to the cinema a year in 1960, this was one of the best ways to reach an audience. 

This slide bears the markings of 'Screens Advertising Limited'- one of the two main providers of cinema advertising. It's competitor, 'Dominion Screens Limited', was part of Amalgamated Cinemas and only serviced Amalgamated chain theatres. 'Screens Advertising Limited' looked after the second big chain (Kerridge-Oden) and the smaller independent theatres such as Foxton's Coronation Hall. By the late 1950s, 'Dominion Screens Limited' offered to screen short films for advertisers as well. As early as 1940, 'Screens Advertising Limited' had Art Directors to help advertisers design their slides..

The passage of time changes how we view images from the past. At the time (probably the 1960s) the Levin Borough Council was encouraging residents to use their gas services. Councils managed the majority of New Zealand's gas supply until the 1989 local government reforms, with many managing electricity too.

In many respects this slide has not aged well. Asides from the sexism of 'Smart Women Cook With Gas' there is the somewhat awkward image of a lady dressed up for a social evening having a quick fry up on the gas stove! But it must have appeared 'natural' at the time.....

Although many cinema advertising slides were taken out by businesses, this form of promotion was also used by charities, clubs, government departments and the cinemas themselves. This one is part advertisement, part public service announcement. 

Public appeals like this one were screened during cinema intermissions by placing the slide into a special holder in the projector for a couple of seconds (any more and the slide would crack!).

Many of these 'appeal' slides (and ones advertising upcoming film screenings) had a blank space at the bottom for the projectionist to add the latest details in removeable ink. Some blank slides were kept on hand for 'on the spot' messages like an appeal for a doctor if there was a medical emergency in the cinema.

Compared to many of MAVtech's advertising slides this one is quite basic- but it would have gotten it's message across well. It probably dates to the 1950s/1960s- long before we had a national blood donation service, hence the lack of logos.

In the time before the internet 'watching the papers' was a great way to get the word out....

This slide would have been shown as part of a national campaign from the 1970s (approximately). In the early years of Civil Defence some print media outlets, angered by government refusal to include them in emergency planning sessions, were reluctant to support Civil Defence's non-emergency press releases. As a result, direct messages like this one in cinemas would have been very valuable.

The slide shown here was screened during intermission in the wider Manawatu/Horowhenua area.