Article by Cameron Spink

VicRoads has recently brought out advertisements seeking to dissuade road users from participating in unsafe activities whilst driving - including facebooking and texting. VicRoads is to be commended for bringing these issues to our attention. What is not helpful is how these advertisements convey their message. Titled with “Don’t be a D***head” these advertisements use very offensive tactics to persuade, in particular, young adults to abstain from these dangerous endeavours. Unfortunately, through-out the advertisement series, other more sickening profanities are used as well as rude finger gestures and acts of violence.

These advertisements are completely inappropriate. They use a forceful, insulting method that has limited persuasive ability. Instead of coercing viewers the advertisements communicate that you don’t want to be like specific groups, particularly emos and redheaded people. The VicRoads advertisements are discriminatory and offensive to these groups who are conveyed as being social evils. Lines like “every time you use your mobile phone in your car an emo is born” and “every time you use your mobile phone whilst driving gingers get fresh with other gingers” reveal how insulting and prejudiced these advertisements are. Who is VicRoads targeting anyway? Emos/redheads or distracted drivers?

Because of these advertisements there have been complaints to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Despite this these advertisements have the backing of our Premier, John Brumby, Ken Lay (the Assistant Police Commissioner) and the Victorian Labor government. They state that is the way young people speak and it is the best way of conveying the message. Well as a young person I disagree with this assessment and almost feel inclined to disregard any message in the advertisement because I am so offended by the way VicRoads has communicated it.

There are other means of cracking down on drivers who are distracting themselves with technology. Inoffensive advertisements would be a good start. People could be encouraged to dob in those who are acting in such a way. This would operate in a similar manner to snitching on hoons and can provide a very effective way of cracking down upon a real social evil.

It is interesting to note that in one of the advertisements the narrator mentions statistics of bad drivers as expressed by the Bureau of Meteorology. This is bizarre as the Bureau of Meteorology deals with weather predictions and not bad driver statistics. So not only are these advertisements offensive they are also unreliable as to fact.

Click here to go to another article about this issue.

Click here to go to the advertisements themselves.

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