My shots Monday: Drink Driving
As the Department for Transport marks 50 years of PSAs, click here for some hard-hitting highlights.
It’s been 50 years since the first public information film was released to warn people about the dangers of drink driving and to mark the occasion, the Department for Transport in the UK has launched a new campaign led by a minute-long film reminding us that, despite the death toll falling in that time, there are still too many annual casualties on the road.
In stark contrast to the launch of this year’s Christmas campaigns, the authority has added a sobering reminder to revellers as they prepare to celebrate the festivities over the next few months.
To mark the anniversary of the serious PSAs and support the new work, below is a selection of hard-hitting videos from the past 10 years.
A man has bought a fresh round of drinks at a bar, but one of his friends says he can't have a second beer as he's driving. His peers brush off his concerns and he takes a sip of his new drink, before they turn their attention to an attractive lady who's walking up to their table. But just as she reaches them, a great force suddenly hits them all as if in a car crash. It Takes Less Than You Might Think To Become A Drink Driver, says the tagline, and the work comes through Leo Burnett London by Ringan Ledwidge.
This piece from the same agency is also set in a pub and sees the barman give a captivating monologue as he serves a customer and potential drink driver. He takes on the characters of everyone in the man’s life following a drink driving incident and illustrates the sheer scale of the consequences. The commercial is directed by HLA's John Hardwick.
Rattling Stick director Ed Morris steps behind the camera for this Department for Transport spot, again through Leo Burnett London, which isn't scared to scare. This time we are taken into a pub toilet where a drink driver sees the nasty truth in his reflection in the mirror.
Rightly or wrongly, for many people drinking is as much a part of Christmas as the story of The Nativity. That's fair enough but remember, if you have one Xmas tipple too many, you won't be fit to drive in the morning, as Dominic Savage points out in this ad through AMV BBDO.
In the 50 years since THINK!, the UK Department for Transport's anti-drunk driving body, has been around, road deaths caused by drink drivers have fallen significantly from 1,640 (in 1967) to 230 (2012). But, as the spot states, that’s still too many. Mark Zibert helms this latest piece through Rogue Films, which is set to the theme of Kool And The Gang’s 1980 hit Celebration.
To see all the above films play in full click here.
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