caution: graphic anti-speeding advert

[waider]

Don't click on this link lightly; it's a TV spot in support of a recently-launched road safety campaign targetted at excessive speed, using the tagline the faster the speed, the bigger the mess. It's been rated as 15/15A for cinema viewing and cannot be broadcast on national TV before 9pm; I saw it on TV during the week and to be honest found it difficult viewing. My only concern is that too many people in this country seem to think, "ah, but that wouldn't happen to me".

Comments

[canetoad.livejournal.com]

good grief.

[catbear.livejournal.com]

I frankly don't think they went far enough.

[wisn.livejournal.com]

Driver's safety shock films were a staple of Driver's Ed in the sixties and seventies. I was too young to see 'em (the complaints of parents with delicate sensibilities got 'em shelved some time before I was in high school), but I remember the older kids raving about them.

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

When evaluating this kind of publich health message, the most important thing I care about is: does it change behavior?

In my public health classes, I learned that shocking ads like these generally tend not to change behaviors very much. There are all kinds of ideas as to why they may not work, but I don't think those ideas matter very much.

And frankly, knowing that and viewing this ad, it meets my definition of pornography. It's disgusting; it appeals to a very base set of emotions that have no place in civilized discourse. If the ads worked I'd say, sure, splatter them all over TV. But they don't. All they do is shock and disgust people. Net negative, all told.