Originally published at: Watch this 1967 film of a folk-pop group introducing Americans to the ZIP code | Boing Boing
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Sheesh…that is choice dopey 60’s stuff right there. I’m flashing back to a trip to Disneyland in ‘69 where I saw the “Up With People” folk singers— ugh.
If only they had instead asked Stan Freeberg to do this campaign. I bet it would have been just as corny, but shorter, wittier, and more effective.
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love Mr. ZIP! holy moly, that was some hokey propaganda. and 15 minutes?? who had the time for that?
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In '67, it was still called the Post Office Department, like what they say in Miracle on 34th Street? Wonder when they changed it to the US Postal Service (USPS), what it’s called today. Also, when did ZIP+4 show up? I wanna say in the late 80s.
Thing is, the USPS is pretty darn efficient. If you don’t put a ZIP code on your envelope, it will still get there. They even read my mom’s and my mother-in-law’s really bad penmanship and the packages and letters still get here. If you use a well known neighborhood name in the address within (and instead of) a good size city, that will work too (though I’m sure the ZIP code will help). I’ve even received mail with my name on it that had some address a couple miles away. I do gots some respect.
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This piece of media was born the same year I was. Which, ah… explains a LOT.
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Surprisingly catchy. I know I’m showing my age but folk music was the thing in elementary schools back in my day. I can’t imagine a film strip show without it and of course the beep to change the image. Actual movie (PSA) days were swell!
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Since it was new and involved young people and scary numbers, I had to ask myself if Birchers and that time’s equivalents of Faux News and MAGAts saw ZIP codes as a sinister conspiracy. Sure enough…
[Archive]
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A good reminder that everything goes back farther than we tend to think. America has been infected with conspiratorial libertarianism for decades, if not centuries (both of them).
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wow, that lunch box set is dope. i love that you can juuuuust see Searchlight, NV on there. somewhere Harry Reid is smiling.
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Not half as stuffy as the TV show West Germany had to hammer down that the Postleitzahl had changed from a two-digit system to a four-digit system.
The 1993 switch to a five-digit system came with a mascot, Rolf
and TV spots made by directors like Wolfgang Petersen.
(1:25, in case cueing doesn’t work)
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They’ve got “A Might Wind” vibes.
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