Where'sh ma keyshsss?

 It’s time for some anti drunk driving campaigns.

Like many people, I do not condone drunk driving. I do condone, however, a drink every now and then. No harm there. But don’t get behind the wheel when you know you’ve had a few. Get a cab, or get a mate to do the driving. Fair enough they won’t get to drink, but you can be the driver next time, and they can return the favour once again.

The headline reads, “Monsters Do Exist / If You Drink, Don’t Drive.”

These ads were for a non-profit organisation called Hispanics Against Drunk Driving, or HADD. Their main aim is to inform people about the dangers of drunk driving, if they didn’t already know.

It is interesting to see that this organisation has decided that the best way to portray a monster is to use a wolf. In each of these childhood classics the wolf is the monster, but we now know that little red riding hood was a story to stop little girls from talking to strangers, the boy who cried wolf tried to persuade young boys not to boast their accomplishments, and the three little pigs was about not answering the door to strangers.

But this begs the question, who are these ads aimed at? They can’t be aimed at children. That just leaves people with children, who tell their kids these particular stories, or newly turned 21 year olds (these ads were only used in the states) that still remember being told these childhood stories and have a personal attachment to them.

The characters used, besides the wolves, also portray innocence and helplessness. This creates a very shock and awe type of effect. The illustrator’s type of style adds to the whole nature of the adverts. There is a friendly, but almost sinister way in which these ads were executed.

These print ads aren’t particularly good in their form, for this particular organisation. They have had better stuff, especially their outdoor/guerrilla advertising.

These simply get the message across. They don’t show you the extremes of drunk driving, but show you an almost watered down effect of it. If they hadn’t held back, I’m sure they would’ve accomplished something a lot more eye catching and thought provoking.