6.6 Government Jingles

Not many families in Hong Kong could afford a television set in the late 1960s, and listening to the radio was the most popular and cheapest form of entertainment among the general public.

After the 1967 riots, the Hong Kong government was especially keen to enhance social cohesion, and it began broadcasting a public service announcement entitled "Hong Kong, My Home" on the radio as part of a civic education programme.

The government went on to produce a series of easy-to-remember promotional songs, including jingles for a road safety campaign (1968), Lap Sap Chung ("the litterbug", 1972), the Community Chest (1974), a family planning campaign (1975) and a clean beach campaign (1975).

These songs quickly established themselves in the collective consciousness and could be heard on everybody's lips at one time or another.

Credit : History Museum of HK.