The only non-profit organisation involved in road safety in South Africa, Drive Alive, recently approached students at the AAA School of Advertising's Johannesburg campus to develop print advertisements to help drum up awareness around the perils of drunken and reckless driving.
Drive Alive's chairperson Moira Winslow says the aim of the brief was to generate a powerful communication piece that would send a warning to South Africa's teenagers ahead of the notorious year-end teen drinking season - matric dances and other end-of-year celebrations.
"Through this campaign we intend to drive home to teenagers the absolute horror that is the stark reality when one is involved in a car accident - irrespective of whether individuals are killed or survive.
"As such, we were looking for creative work that was clever, yet provocative, in nature. In fact, the more shocking, the better. Who better to approach than students for the development of the message?"
In response, AAA's graduate-year copywriting and art direction students collaborated to produce more than 25 print advertisements, each one more innovative than the last, says AAA School of Advertising's graduate year art direction lecturer, Harry Ferner.
The graduate student advertisement that came out tops is entitled 'Nurse Betty' and was created by copywriter Alma Viviers and art director Vivienne Rust. The other favourites were 'Yearbook' and 'Hideous Harriet'. 'Yearbook' was developed by copywriter Jay Vermaak and art director Gerhard Liebenberg, while 'Hideous Harriet' is a result of copywriter Claudi Eybers' and art director Saki Piliso's joint efforts.
The placement of these submissions will be negotiated with school magazines and newsletters countrywide, while local teen magazines will also be targeted. Winslow points out that this is a standard Drive Alive communication practice, but, having said this, all previous submissions could all be described as 'basic' at best.
Motor vehicle accidents are the single greatest cause of unnatural deaths among South African children aged five-to-19-years, with more than 1 100 children less than 19-years of age dying on our roads annually.
