Released in 1972 this cartoon aimed at teenagers warns them to learn how to swim, or risk social embarrassment and failure to attract the opposite sex.
The female character’s illusion of her boyfriend ‘Dave’ being able ‘to do anything’ is shattered after she wishes they were at the seaside, where she discovers Dave can’t swim. He in turn wishes he didn’t ‘keep losing me birds’ after his girlfriend disappears with ‘Mike’ who ‘swims like a fish’.
Although the film is lighthearted in tone it was intended in part to help prevent accidents. Since the 1970s the rate of deaths by drowning has fallen, but it is still the third most common cause of accidental death among the under 16s. (Source: RoSPA, August 2004)