Phillip Adams Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t drink at the bar. In fact, he hardly ever drank. After work, he’d go straight home.
    The MDA partners, their staff, clients and other invited guests such as politicians and media personalities also had regular office lunches together — but only for about ninety minutes and fuelled by mineral water, which was replacing wine at business lunches. Adams was the life of the party, holding forth with political anecdotes.
    Board meetings were also a lot of fun. Phillip would occasionally seize the opportunity to lie down on the couch and look as if he was asleep, but at a strategic moment would make a pertinent comment. Lyle Dayman told me, ‘Phillip sometimes actually fell asleep during board meetings, although I have to admit that I used to relieve the boredom myself by drawing sketches of the other board members.’
    At this time, Adams was doing a great deal in his life, such as writing columns for The Age , which riled some of MDA’s clients, while others found his views challenging and entertaining. He was also making films and working on government committees.
    The partners were earning big money, which made left-winger Adams feel guilty. He started to despise the advertising business that was making him wealthy and expunged his guilt by planning campaigns for the good of society. In 1975, he conceived the ‘Life. Be in it’ campaign for the Victorian Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation. Graphic designer Alex Stitt brought the campaign to life with cartoon characters, particularly a lethargic, beer-bellied, middle-aged couch potato called Norm. The Victorian Government launched the campaign in 1975, initially urging people to get out and get exercise, although later the campaign was expanded to promote quality of life.
    By 1977 the campaign had become national, supported by all Australian governments, and fat, middle-aged Norm became such an anti-hero cult figure that he took part in the 2001 Sydney Centenary of Federation Parade. The Macquarie Dictionary of Slang describes Norm as ‘an average citizen addicted to watching sport on television’. In 1981, federal funding for the campaign ended and ‘Life. Be in it’ became a not-for-profit company. You can send Norm an email at www.lifebeinit.org to find more about it and suggest how Australians could become more active. Perhaps the campaign should be modernised and stepped up as it is now 35 years old and many Australians have never seen it.
    Another legendary campaign, devised by Adams in 1980, was ‘Slip! Slop! Slap!’ for the Victorian Anti-Cancer Council. Peter Best, who wrote the music for the original commercial, told me that the slogan was originally ‘Slip! Slop! Shove!’
    â€˜But,’ he said, ‘“Slip” (on a shirt), “Slop” (on sunscreen) and “Slap” (on a hat) preserved the “Sl” sound each time.’
    And so another widely recognised slogan sprang from the frontal lobe of Phillip Adams. Like ‘Life. Be in it’, ‘Slip! Slop! Slap!’ went national and has been adopted by all state cancer councils. Both campaigns were usually screened free of charge as community service announcements. ‘Slip! Slop! Slap!’ was also used in New Zealand and Canada. The cartoon characters were again created by Alex Stitt, with Sid as an animated seagull. The ad has become Australia’s longest-running commercial.
    For another government initiative — planning a national campaign for disabled people — Adams spent a day in a wheelchair to experience what it was like to be disabled. He told me, ‘I learned more about being disabled in that day than ever before or since. I was sitting in an Adelaide office with other people planning the campaign when a man in a wheelchair came in. “Get in the chair,” he told me, so I did. “Now go downstairs and see what it’s like.” So I did. At the lift, I could hardly