The Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW, Australia, has just launched an anti-speeding campaign aimed at young men, using the tagline, “Speeding. No one thinks big of you”. The 45 second TV ad, Pinkies, launched tonight, features a young man burning rubber on a city street, hoping to impress the girls. However they’re not impressed. Instead of thumbs up, they show limp pinkies, using their little fingers to indicate the size of the speeding guy’s appendage and intelligence! Another driver narrowly misses a female pedestrian. He gets the pinkie verdict from another older woman who witnesses the incident. To top it off, the back seat passengers produce the pinkie verdict as their driver swerves his way around a street corner due to high speed.
Click on the image below to play the video.
The RTA has developed the campaign in response to two factors. Many young guys see speeding as cool. All the ads in the world showing the serious injury and death that speeding can cause are becoming less effective. Increasingly, young guys simply reject this message. They have an “it won’t happen to me” attitude. The ‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you’ campaign takes a totally different approach. It offers young drivers an immediate consequence… speed and people will think poorly of you. It purposely talks to young guys in their language. Testing of the finished ad has shown this is a very salient thought that will change young drivers’ behaviour. It could very well be the thread that unravels the mindset that speeding is cool.
In NSW speeding is a factor in about 40 per cent of road deaths each year. This means more than 220 people die each year in NSW because of speeding. In addition to those killed, more than 4000 people are injured in speed-related crashes each year. The estimated cost to the community of speed-related crashes is about $500 million a year.
Credits
The Pinkies ad was developed at Clemenger BBDO, Sydney, by art directors Baz Baker and Pic Andrews, copywriter Chris Pearce, and agency producers Denise McKeon and Laura O’Connor, account managers Anne Gibson and Sarah Regan, account planners Gillian McNaughton and Taz Bareham.
Filming was shot by Glue Society director Gary Freedman via @Radical Media, Sydney, with director of photography Keith Wagstaff.
Music was composed by Hylton Mowday at JAM.
Media was planned by Jordaan Knaap, Customedia.
it is so good
i can not say any more
good on you all
isn’t this ad a bit sexist?
wouldn’t the response to it be a bit different had the drivers been women?
(i don’t mean i’m against the ad – which is fun and does a good job of putting its message thru. i’m just a little bugged by all those feminist associations that cry ‘chauvinistic pig!’ when an ad just as humorous as this one picks on the ‘fair sex’)
HAHHAHAHAH this isnt gona stop me speeding!!!
it funny as though
i luv it!!!
Speeding. No one thinks big of you
hihi, Fristable, the new ad could be more effective than previous ones against speeding problem especially to women’s thinking beacase of its a little bit sex concern.
But at last, the “small of you” people will be furious because what really means really means.hihi!
Does anyone know what the piece of music is that they used in this ad? It’s cracking!
While I really like the message that this advert is conveying, this will not prevent accidents. The underlying reason for the majority of fatal and serious injury incidents is poor risk analysis by drivers.
Forcing drivers to adhere to speed limits does not prevent accidents. Training drivers to anticipate and judge conditions, as has been proved by a number of studies in Europe, especially the UK, is far better at preventing accidents than telling people they shouldn’t drive fast.
For example, the majority of motorcycle rider deaths (as recorded by state and federal government statistics ) are caused by collisions with other vehicles turning into their path. The speed of the motorcycle might well be a contributary factor in the accident, but the fact that the car driver did not determine the risk involved by their manoeuvre ultimately led to the death or injury of the motorcycle.
Until Police, government and legislation recognises that driver competence and risk perception is the basis of safe driving hence the reduction of road deaths, nothing is going to happen.
Speeding just happens to be easily measurable and easy to collect revenue. The enforcement of speed limits WONT stop people dying.
Is it just me and just the studies or this common sense as well?
It’s a clever approach, I think. And it might have some small positive effect.
But the sad reality is that there are still many young women who are impressed by leadfooted, risk-taking hoons.
Maybe an evolutionary psychologist could explain why …
Rowly,
While what you say is absolutely true, slowing down increases the time available to make judgments and, consequently, improves risk analysis.
It took me a long time to realise this personally and recognise that for any set of conditions, there’s a “safe” speed for my driving skill, mental acuity and vehicle capabilities. In some situations, this safe speed is stationary!
I certainly agree with you about arbitrary speed limits, but I think the important lesson is for drivers to learn to adjust their speed to give themselves time to judge and react. And for young drivers, they need to accept that accurate judgement of speed and movement takes quite a long time to develop.
Back to the ad: it’s bloody brilliant.
David
I love the commercial… i recckon its awsome nd they did a great job, and its just so truee
I am a female, and my unbiased opinion is that this ad was a bit sexist toward men. Actually, a lot sexist. I like how the commercial ‘speaks their language’ and all but its just really immature. Isn’t there a better way to get the message across? Because when women see this ad, they’re going to think that its justified to use that hand signal anywhere and anytime a man pisses them off. And then its not only going to be a traffic issue of road rage but its going to start other social problems as well. I think they should replace the ad with something else, instead of tackling a man’s ego like that. Because Im sure that if they had an ad attacking the size of woman’s breasts or something, there would be an outrage. They shouldnt bring people down to get the message acorss, they should use some kind of positive reinforcement. Because if I know men, and I think I do, they’ll fight back because they will feel the need to protect their respect. And if Im correct, that definately wont be good.
To those who wish to ban these ads as ‘sexist’, perhaps you suggest we ought to ban needle exchange programs and tell gay men not to use condoms as well?
The reality is, it’s young men who are mostly involved in speeding and fatal accidents.
As unpleasant as reality may be at times, unless we take positive, realistic steps, then the fatalities will continue.
Before you start jumping up and down about the road toll , or patting yourself on the back for such a successful ad campaign, ask yourself how many vehicle fatalities are suicides?
Then when you have the corrected figure of actual road “accident” fatalities you will have to realise that legislation alone will never protect the stupid or incompetent from themselves. Its time people were taught to driver, not taught to get a licence. It is also time to enforce laws that already in exist instead of changing them to suit the lowest common denominator.
There’s actually zero evidence that speed itself is the cause of most accidents… and ’speeding’ is not a legitimate construct, because it means going faster than a number that is arbitrarily set. It’s generally other factors that cause the accidents, which when combined with high speeds end up deadly. These factors are inattention, dangerous maneuvers, tailgating, and drunkenness. The government in the mean time will keep making up lies to justify the ticketing of motorists.
Speeding isn’t ‘cool’, it’s just trying to get to your destination on time. I agree that street racing is generally quite stupid, but what needs to be the issue is making RECKLESS DRIVING socially unacceptable, not speeding responsibly.
Does anybody know the name of the music thst is on this ad.
If an ad was like this was made to attack female sexuality, there would be a lot of angry females. RTA felt comfortable making an ad attacking male sexuality because they know that males won’t be offended and angry, as males have a spine.
I personally thought it was superly effective.
i am nearly at my personal driving stage, and i now feel that i need to watch my speed. and also feel paranoid of what people will think of me. Full on applause for it! Those who are with me on this one.. you rock! Those of you who aren’t.. well wake up!
i am the author of this division..and thakyou all for your comments. for those who feel that the ad is sexist, i do apologize, but you’ve mistaken the ad. the target audience for the ad was teenage male drivers. However, the ad has been proven to have woken up thos mindless fools who usually destruct our roads.
thankyou again!
yes it is a good ad and it really does get the message thru but Im doing a assessment on this ad and i agree it is a little sexist. Overall i still reckn it does the job good effort put in.
To David who wrote way back in July 2007 – I got the following info’ from a comment on the advert from Youtube – The music is apparently by a composer by the name of Hylton Mowday who wrote the piece especially for the advert. It is somewhat similar to a piece called ‘Lujon’ by Henry Mancini (who is most famous for the ‘Pink Panther theme tune). It does not currently appear on Mr. Mowday’s website but he has other pieces written for other adverts by @Radical Media who were involved in the creation of this advert.
Interesting that none of the cars are actually speeding.. just a slight oversight.
WHAT IS THE SONG PLAYD IN THIS AD!! 🙂
I wonder how much it would cost to re-make this add because they should. the male in the last scene of this add sitting to the right of the camera in the back seat lost his licence for speding in real life I found out. Yep the stupid kid got done speeding along the northen beaches one night. So if the cast can not get the point of this add what hope do other young drivers have.