Best TAC advert. EVER.

I remember when I was a final year student in RMIT, our class had the opportunity to visit Grey Melbourne.  We were seated in their swanky boardroom, complete with refreshments and a huge bowl of Lay's and the Creative Director shared some of Grey's best ad campaigns.  One of the most memorable adverts for me was the ones produced for TAC (Transport Accident Commission).  The films were realistic and poignantly captured to show real life drunk driving situations and the unimaginable consequences that follow.  I remember taking an extra 'Right-Left-Right' look when crossing the road on my way home that night.  And I also fell in love with the song 'Everybody Hurts' by REM which so poignantly tells the story and touches the heart.

Fast forward today, TAC compiled some of its best TVCs and made it into a 5 minute commercial (YouTube viewership to-date, 13 million and counting).  And this is really the best advert I've seen from the series.  It really makes you think twice about drinking and driving - shows you everything that you don't see unless an accident happens.  And then it's really too late for any remorse.

Warning: Contain disturbing images.

You know, I wish the Ministry of Transport of Malaysia will be a little bit more consistent in its strategy and effectiveness tracking.  I wish they would just stop all this 'kickback' nonsense (IF it's happening, ahem), and really do something for the people.  Even public service announcements such as this can help rebrand the government.  Awhile back, I read from The Star that the Ministry of Transport will join hands with the Ministry of Health to get new drivers to sign up for organ donation upon receiving their license.  Seriously, are you that grim that you're prepared to have these people will die young on the road already?  That really tells you something about this government's value.  Sigh*

Seriously seriously, I sometimes wish I could do something about this.  Beyond a vote.

Anthropology: How PSAs have changed.

Compare what we see now (if there are any PSAs (public service announcement) at all) with what was produced in the 50s.



It's really interesting to see how the film was 'composed'. The usage of animation to target children. In the event of a nuclear blast, just 'duck and cover'. It's strange. The first usage of the atomic bomb was in 1945 wiping out civilization in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The extend of its horrendous consequences must have been noted, studied and tracked for half a decade before the production of this film. Do you think by ducking and covering, the Japanese kids could have gotten away from the atrocities of an A bomb?

This is a pure example of advertising and propaganda which technique is known as card stacking. A method of presenting information that is positive (or best positive) to an idea and conveniently omitting the 'rest of the information'. According to the Institute of Propaganda Analysis which was founded in the 1930s, the best way for people to overcome such intentional propaganda is to search and secure more information - to see both sides of the story, all sides to a coin. The 'card stacking' method is less and less effective in today's age because of the advent of the internet. The influx of information, both accurate or otherwise, allows the mass to 'think and decide' for themselves and not be malleable to whatever advertising says.

If you've been advertising using this method, shame on you.