Analysis of a Television Advertisement Aimed at Raising Awareness on the Issue of Road Safety

Analysis of a Television Advertisement Aimed at Raising Awareness on the Issue of Road Safety

In order to analyse the advertisement, it is necessary to look at the

different techniques used throughout. The advertisement has been

created in order to promote road safety, and is from a series of

advertisements called ‘THINK!’ The specific advert I am to analyse is

called ‘Backwards’, and deals with the decision of whether or not to

wear seatbelts whilst travelling in a car. Different techniques used

in the advertisement are employed in order to increase effectiveness,

these are as follows; the meaning behind the visuals of the

advertisement, the target audience and how it raises the audiences’

awareness using a variety of different techniques. The first aspect of

the advertisement that is used to strike the audience is the message

behind it.

‘Backwards’ is an advertisement, whose aim is geared towards

impressing the importance of wearing a seatbelt whilst in a car to the

audience. The advertisement attempts to get this message across,

through use of an extremely disturbing image from the very start. The

image is of three young men in a car crash, when they have not put on

their seatbelts. The clip is then re-run with the three men wearing

their seatbelts to illustrate the message of the piece, but also, to

really impress upon the viewers the difference this can make.

The advertisement is meant to raise awareness on just how important

wearing a seatbelt, both in the front and back of the vehicle is.

Moreover, it is set in an urban area where people take short trips at

low speeds all of the time. Thus showing that even in the mundane,...

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...happened at the start of the

advertisement, helping people to recall the whole of the

advertisement. Although the advertisement does use shocking images to

make its point, they are used in a very serious and respectful way.

The advert is very effective in the ways it targets its audience and

gets the message across to them. One way that this advert gets it

message across is through the shocking images that it uses. It takes

time to change people’s attitudes, but that is exactly what this

campaign does, makes people think about road safety. The most

important aspect of the advert is the thought it evokes. It doesn’t

force, or tell people what to do; it shows the consequences of such

actions. Illustrating the advert’s effectiveness, in fulfilling its

purpose of raising awareness, and in leaving a lasting message.