Safe Driving Advertisement Analysis

It seems as if we cannot walk two steps without seeing an advertisement these days. Ads can be seen on billboards, in newspapers and magazines and on television in commercials. These ads may promote a product or a service or they might serve as a public service announcement on an issue within the community. Driving PSA’s are one type of ad that can be exceptionally effective at changing people’s behavior behind the wheel for several different reasons: The ad is personal to them, simple to understand, or just has shock value that remains with them for a long time after they view the ad. Driving in today’s society can be dreadfully dangerous. There are numerous distractions that are always there to take a person’s eyes off of the road. Texting

They might achieve this by showing an accident scene, such as the “I’m Just Buzzed” ad created by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). It shows a car flipped upside-down and destroyed. The ad is meant to show just what can happen when one drives after drinking, even if it is only enough for him or her to be considered “buzzed.” A common way to shock the viewer is to show an actual victim. In the “That’s Why It’s 30” ad created by the New York City Department of Transportation there is a depiction of a child. One half of the boy’s face is completely healthy and text adjacent to it states that “Hit at 30 mph there is an 80% chance I’ll live”; however, the other half of his face, is a skull with text beside it that reads “Hit at 40 mph there is a 70% chance I’ll die.” In the survey conducted on students and staff at Williams Valley, an overwhelming 22 of the 30 people surveyed disclosed that the image of the boy affected them the greatest out of three images shown. In response to why it affected them so much, many of the respondents focused to on the fact that it involved a child’s life. One said, “The child’s life is depicted as a ratio or as a percentage. A child’s life should not be weighed so lightly.” Another stated, “A child is involved and it is pretty gruesome thinking of how easily we can die in a car.” There were numerous other variations of responses that stated that it had the greatest impact on them due to the child. Another New York City DOT ad shows a woman holding a picture of her son. Words beside her state “A driver hit my son riding his bike on Shore Front Parkway. Andre should be turning 23 this year.” Both ads by New York City’s DOT force the viewer to consider actual victims who would still be alive if it was not for reckless driving. This is the first step in making people contemplate and transform driving habits they have that are