Advertising standard

[ailbhe]

OK, I just saw a creepy as fuck road safety ad. At least, I saw a tiny bit of it, and then yelled for Rob to change the channel while I sat with my head in my hands doing the mental equivalent of "lalalalalalala".

Small dead girl, with blood trickling out of her ear, leaning against a tree. Blood trickles back into her ear, hands come out, pushes herself up, drags back onto the road - obviously the end of an accident in rewind. The gist of the voiceover was that 40mph is much, much more lethal than 30mph.

Do these ads have any effect on drivers? Am I right in thinking that the kind of driver who thinks "Oh, I was only 5mph over the speed limit" is basically immune to shock tactics like this? Or will it actually be news to some people that doing 40 through a residential area is a bad idea?

Comments

[alison.hemuk.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

That one's certainly not pleasant, but I can cope with it. I actually think it's a good ad, a very powerful image showing exactly how much more dangerous those extra few mph are.

There is one, that I haven't seen for a good while thankfully, that made me switch channels every time. Won't try and describe it.

[ailbhe]

Perhaps having no confidence that my eldest child can walk down a footpath on her own yet, let alone cross a road, affects how disturbing it is?