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PROVO, Utah (AP) — A national ad campaign by students at Brigham Young University is running this week with the intent to inform people that buzzed driving is drunk driving.
These students were the first hired to create and complete the Ad Council's annual campaign, traditionally designed with the goal of reducing traffic accidents and deaths, the Daily Herald reported.
BYU junior Catharine DeLong created an ad that centers on a driver's decision to take a taxi. She said the ad carries a long-lasting, positive social message.
"It shows life before an arrest," she said. "A guy is taking a girl on a date with friends. He opens the door to the car and consequences spill out. Then it goes back to the point of decision and shows him deciding instead to open the door to a taxi."
University associate professor of advertising Jeff Sheets said students created a campaign that could have a positive influence.
"It is so fun to see the students contribute to an advertising campaign that has the potential to make a difference in the world," Sheets said. "We get asked all the time to make campaigns and build strategies to make people money, but this one can hopefully save lives."
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, impaired driving fatalities can reach high rates between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
"While fatalities have steadily declined over the past few decades, drunk driving is still a serious issue, especially among our target audience of young male drivers," Ad Council vice president, campaign director Rowena Patrick said in a release. "Our collaboration with the young minds at BYU Ad Lab allows us to show the consequences of Buzzed Driving in a fresh, new way, using the language of social media and the peer judgment that comes along with it."
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Information from: The Daily Herald
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