On the other hand I kind of love this PSA - for a number of reasons I suppose. First off is the soft spot I have in my heart for Jason Bateman, given his involvement in this. Second, I love the demonstration of how things have changed. Make that about cellphone usage nowadays and it might fit - but the idea of lugging around a huge boombox, well, no more.
Public service announcements don't always work. I'm not sure if Jason Bateman's plea to politeness had a noticeable effect on boombox noise pollution in the late 80s, but certainly various campaigns have resulted in shifts in public awareness. For example, one of the most famous - the Back to Sleep campaign - resulted in a 50% reduction in the number of infants suffering from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. On the other hand, public service campaigns geared towards changing the public's conceptions of how often oil should be changed in a car haven't resulted in any changes, and some, like the funny but unfair (and rightly critiqued) breastfeeding PSAs might have actually led to a backlash.
Which public service announcement do you remember from your childhood? Did they work? Why or why not?
the first clip with the child is creative but crazy. I can see it causing more accidents than peventing them.I do think it will get people to slow down due the fact something is in the road but then I imagine myself swerving to miss the growing child. of course I would feel like a fool when it was over but I think this perticular design is flawed.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other clip with the boom boxes, I forgot those things existied. I remember when they were everywhere and drove me absoulty crazy to the point I just wanted to punch them for carring one of them.
this post is by Rebecca Murphy
The first clip was nuts. There's a couple of problems with it though. Once people begin to know the area, they will find out it's just an optical illusion, so then they will be less careful and just drive how they used to. Also, if you're not paying attention to when your are driving and you look up and see the kid, then you will most likely slam on your brakes which will actually cause an accident if someone is behind you because you can get rearended. So as for that clip I don't think it would actually work and I don't totally agree with it either.
ReplyDeleteFor the boombox clip, I never remember actually seeing someone carrying one around. However, I knew about them because in high school for our spirit week, we had themes and the one was dress up like an era in the 1900's, and students came in with the boom box on their shoulder. Then was the first time I actually saw someone carrying one around. It jsut served as a distraction to everyone around, so it didn't really work out in public to have your music blaring from a boombox.
-Stacey Sank