A public education message against drink driving by the Traffic
Police and the Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) has received
flak over its advertisement, with some saying the public service
message defeats its own purpose.
The message, styled as the obituary of a teenager who was a
victim of drink driving, ran with his picture and the words “Dearly
missed by a loving wife, children, and grandchildren that he will
never have. Denied of a future of hopes and dreams that he will
never realize”.
But under this was a “disclaimer” — that the teen is a
fictitious character.
Those in the business of advertising and communications said the
advertisement, which ran in The Straits Times
and The New Paper on Monday, deflated its own power with
the disclaimer.
Mr Gan Boon Guan, the chief operating officer of global
marketing services group Carat Media Services, told ST,
“It creates an effect and then takes it away.”
The industry veteran with more than 20 years experience added
that the disclaimer defeated the purpose, because the drama created
is lost, and the message becomes almost a joke.
Advertising veteran and part-time advertising lecturer Melina
Chua echoed those views saying, “When I realised it was an ad,
the house of cards fell down for me. The gravity of the message was
lost.”
Mr Low Cheh Chuan, managing partner of Salt Creatives,
which created the ad for the Traffic Police, said the creative
concept set out to show the reality of the consequences of drink
driving.
“It’s not about one life. It’s about robbing the person of the
chance to be a husband, a father, a grandfather.”
Defending the use of the disclaimer, he said it was necessary in
the name of responsible advertising, and insisted that it did not
compromise the effect of the ad.
“It’s still very real. The ad has done its work and got the
reader’s attention… If a lot of people go away thinking that it is
a real obituary, it creates a lot of hassle.”
The teen in the ad is an 18-year-old whose features were
digitally altered “a fair bit” with his consent, and that of his
parents. The “obituary” is just a teaser, said Mr Low. Today, there
will be another ad that portrays the teenager as a father and a
grandfather.
The SRSC who is also a partner in the ad campaign, said it
supported the “bold and creative” approach that conveys the
anti-drink driving message, “We want a clear message that drives
home the drastic consequences of drink driving.”
Advertising lecturer Tim Clark from Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) said “deception” was a dangerous tactic to use in
advertising. But it was acceptable for public service messages,
because “in this context, the disclaimer doesn’t change the fact
that real people do die this way”.
Last year, 22 people died and 182 people were injured in
drink-driving accidents, a total of 204 casualties. The number of
people arrested for drink driving was 2,931. There were 267
casualties in 2009 and 235 in 2008.
Said a police spokesman, “It is hoped that the emotive appeal of
the advertisement will remind the public not to drink and
drive.”
Businessman Muhammad Nazran Ahmad, 30, said the ad prompted
him to think about the taboos of using a living person’s face in an
obituary instead of making him reflect on drink driving.
“It was clever, but not necessarily effective,” he said.
Do you agree?
-- Yahoo! News
