Stop the texts. Stop the wrecks. Stop the shock PSAs.

Texting and driving is still a very serious issue on the public roads. All distracted driving is. But even though the issue keeps getting more complicated, many of the PSAs about it seem stuck in the old “blood on the highway” driver’s education film style of shock advertising.

A new series from the U.S. Ad Council at first seems to be trying something different by taking a comic approach by showing the trivial dangers of texting and walking.

However, as comparison, they then go back to the old standard portrayal of a tragic car crash killing pedestrians. (In this case, due to text distractions.)

The idea that youth can be shocked out of a common behaviour — when they are constantly bombarded with much more explicit fake violence in games, movies, TV and online — is no longer the leading assumption among social marketers.

Plus, texting and walking can be deadly.

See two campaign videos after the break, plus one more that gives a straightforward explanation of the issue.

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Comments

I think that advertisers need to re-evaluate what could be considered “shock” advertising. I would like to see more of a shock via “reality check”, like featuring various aftermaths from true incidents.