Wikipedia

Central Office of Information

The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its chief executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a trading fund subject to the Government Trading Funds Act 1973, recovering its costs from the other departments, executive agencies and publicly funded bodies which used its services.

Central Office of Information (COI)
Capital letters COI in white on a maroon background. Above and to the right, a small St Edward's Crown logo.
COI Logo
Department overview
Formed1946 (1946)
Preceding Department
Dissolved30 December 2011 (2011-12-30)
Superseding Department
JurisdictionUK Government
StatusDefunct
HeadquartersHercules House, Hercules Road, London SE1 7DU
Minister responsible
Keep Britain Tidy, a 1963 poster by the Central Office of Information

Established in 1946 as the successor to the wartime Ministry of Information, the COI was designed not only to handle peacetime public information campaigns but also to continue the Ministry's legacy of coordinated government propaganda.[1][2] The COI was, in part, an effort to shape cultural attitudes and public perceptions, both domestically and overseas.[3][4]

History

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The COI was established in 1946 as the successor to the wartime Ministry of Information, the government department responsible for publicity and propaganda, when individual government departments resumed responsibility for information policy.[5] It worked with Whitehall departments and public bodies to produce information campaigns on issues that affected the lives of British citizens, from health and education to benefits, rights and welfare.

COI celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2006 with several events including a film season at the National Film Theatre and a poll to find Britain's favourite public information film on the BBC website.[6]

From 2010, governmental spending on marketing fell considerably. This was because of the Coalition Government's policy to support only essential campaigns.[7] As a result, the government announced that COI would be closed and its remaining functions transferred to the Cabinet Office.[8]

The Central Office of Information closed on 30 December 2011.[9]

Reputation

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A representative of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (IBSA), a trade body for advertisers in the UK, described the COI in 2009 as holding "a very high reputation amongst ISBA members, and indeed, in the industry as a whole, for being robust, transparent and fair", and in regard to its tendering processes, being "at the pinnacle of best practice".[10]

Declassified documents and scholarly research show that the COI's reputation also rested on its effectiveness at coordinating cultural propaganda campaigns that sought to subtly guide public attitudes in ways that aligned with government objectives.[2][1][11]

References

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  1. 1 2 Grimshaw, Jennie (26 November 2021). "British Government Information and Propaganda: Collections at the British Library and Elsewhere". British Online Archives. Microform Academic Publishers. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 Curtis, Mark (24 September 2024). "'Propaganda material will need to be disseminated'". Declassified UK. Retrieved 30 July 2025. Whitehall officials and ministers connive with the BBC and the press during wars, to promote 'propaganda' to domestic and foreign audiences, declassified files show.
  3. ↑ Anthony, Scott (2024). "John Bankole Jones, London Line and the Central Office of Information in the era of cultural propaganda". In Lopez, Beatriz; Smith, James; Woodward, Guy (eds.). British Writing, Propaganda and Cultural Diplomacy in the Second World War and Beyond. London: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 145–160. doi:10.5040/9781350412163.0017. ISBN 978-1-3504-1213-2.
  4. ↑ Spencer-Bennett, Joe (10 October 2019). "The Ministry of Information and the linguistic design of Britain's World War II propaganda" (PDF). Discourse & Society. 31 (3). Sage Publishing (published 25 November 2019). doi:10.1177/0957926519889125. ISSN 1460-3624.
  5. ↑ "COI - About COI". 19 June 2010. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Wilson, Giles (28 March 2006). "Stop Look Listen: And the winner is..." BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  7. ↑ Maude, Francis (23 June 2011). "Government publishes response to COI review". gov.uk (Press release). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 22 March 2014. The changes, which will lead to the closure of the Central Office of Information (COI), will further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government communications.
  8. ↑ "Government ad agency COI to be closed down". BBC News. BBC. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 p88
  10. ↑ Morrison, D., quoted in Information Tribunal, Mr Fred Keene v IC (Freedom of Information Act 2000) [2009] UKFTT EA_2008_0097 (GRC) (14 September 2009), paragraph 29, accessed 16 May 2024
  11. ↑ Vickery, Edward Louis (August 2003). Telling Australia’s story to the world:The Department of Information 1939-1950 (PhD thesis) – via Australian National University.
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