Hooniverse Asks- Has an Automotive-Related PSA Ever Worked on You?

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Have you ever seen this seat belt safety ad? It offers an extremely artful and powerful message that our safety is important, not just to ourselves, but to those around us. I’ve watched it about five times now, and while I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt, this makes me think a little more about why I’m doing so when I get in the car.
Public Service Announcements are almost always clever, they have to be to cut through the clutter of advertising that’s thrown at us daily. If you’re old like me, then you’ll no doubt remember that you could learn a lot from a dummy, which was one of the most iconic car safety campaigns ever run.
The question for today is, are PSAs clever enough to get through to you? Has there ever been a Public Service Announcement that really resonated with you and perhaps got you to change your behavior – whether it be seat belt use, calling a cab after a few too many, or the modern scourge of our time, texting and driving? Has a car-related PSA ever worked on you?
Image: YouTube

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  1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
    PotbellyJoe★★★★★

    I can’t say if any worked on me. That’s the thing about brainwashing (there is good brainwashing, haha) you can’t tell if it is your own thought, or a supplanted one.
    I do think it’s funny that I looked for an anti-drunk driving PSA from the 80s that I remember from my childhood and the ad I was forced to sit through while waiting for youtube was a Heineken ad.
    Also, the main PSA I remember about drunk driving is the Indiana State Police’s announcement at the Notre Dame games, because Tim McCarthy always has to make some terrible pun.

  2. P161911 Avatar
    P161911

    Can’t say as I have ever seen one that didn’t advocate something I wasn’t already doing. But what I really want to see is one that shows what happens if a passenger has their feet up on the dash and the airbag goes off. My wife tried to put her feet up on the dash of my truck this weekend. When I said “If the airbag goes off, you’ll never walk again.” she put them down.

    1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
      PotbellyJoe★★★★★

      There was a CarTalk around a decade ago where a woman called in to ask about airbags and their safety. Her husband always drove on long trips and she would knit to pass the time. They had just replaced their older car with one that now had dual airbags. She asked if she know should sit in the back seat for the longer trips.
      I had never put a second thought to having things in my lap sitting up front.

    2. mzszsm Avatar
      mzszsm

      I just googed and there are few videos like this, just make sure the windows are rolled-up so you can find the patella later.

  3. Tanshanomi Avatar

    Not really affected my behavior personally, but I posted this to my Facebook page a couple years ago, and my sister shared it on all her friends pages, saying “My brother, my sister-in-law, and a lot of his friends ride motorcycles. Go, Sis.”

    1. Kiefmo Avatar
      Kiefmo

      Though I had nearly two years of incident-free riding (that is, no incidents), this is why I just sold my twowheelsgood.
      Too many people on phones, drifting lanes, changing lanes without signalling.
      I sometimes felt like the narrator of “A Nice Morning Drive” (the short story that inspired Rush’s Red Barchetta), small and vulnerable among innumerable careless drivers who know they’ll most likely be just fine if they have an accident, so they not only don’t pay attention, they are even sometimes aggressive just because they know I’ll maneuver around them to preserve my own hide.
      Damn, Rush will be in KC again in July. I need to find a way to get tickets.

      1. Tanshanomi Avatar

        Can’t find your cell phone # … do I have it? Email it to me at [myhandle]@[myhandle].com so I can text you next time we’re putting together a KC LuncHoon.

  4. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    I’ve not been much exposed to them (no TV for 15+ years and selective Youtube-browsing), but PSA-ads next to our roads do have a sort of effect. This one makes me check my speedometer, even if I don’t really adjust my speed:
    http://pixelogpunkt.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/over-fartsgrensen_bilde-sammen.png
    This one was popular for a very long time, quite similar concept to the lead photo:
    http://digitalmediedesign.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/analyse14.jpg
    I’m always wearing a seat belt and expect the same of all my passengers, so there’s no effect to be had.

    1. mzszsm Avatar
      mzszsm

      Over Fartsgrensen is a Norwegian name for the grandson of ‘Old Fart’ Over?

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        Farting is a national pastime – and all the rumbling distracts from driving in a straight line.
        “Fartsgrensen” is “the speed limit”.

        1. dr zero Avatar
          dr zero

          Let’s have a crack with my 6 months of Ny i Norge classes:
          “Which side of the speed limit are you on?”
          How did I do? (I cheated on Fartsgrensen, but I do at least know that fart (snigger) is speed).

          1. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            You did some outstanding deduction there, ha!
            Btw, a linguist friend insists that most of the ancient similar words in our Germanic languages were spread by the Vikings, not the other way ’round by Cadillac-driving, computer-wielding Americans. So that’s that. 😉

  5. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I remember that PSA, and I remember lampooning it on Jalopnik.

  6. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    The only PSA that worked on me was the STD one we had to watch in junior high health class. It helps that girls have cooties.

  7. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
    PotbellyJoe★★★★★

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_70c9zOVMYBY/S7R_moX8MnI/AAAAAAAAB50/VFuiP1KyUNo/s1600/car.jpeg
    Saw this one when I was much younger. It upset my mom for a few miles.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Wow, this defines harsh.

      1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
        PotbellyJoe★★★★★

        MADD is like PETA for their shock value ads, but unlike PETA, people agree with their cause. So in many ways it’s all the more baffling why they need to make everyone angry with their advertising.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          If their main goal is for the ads be remembered – congratulations!

  8. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    Maybe I misunderstood what a PSA is (aside from Peugeot SA,of course), but I certainly never let a kid ride my trolley at the airport. When the announcements changed from that to “do not leave your luggage unattended” they didn’t have time to tell me about the kids on trolleys anymore. Nanoop jr. abides.

  9. dr zero Avatar
    dr zero

    This was on a football jersey a few years back:
    http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w434/macopowa/null-34.png
    If it doesn’t quite show up it reads “Drink, drive, bloody idiot”.