The Daily BuzzAnti-drunk driving campaign uses bloody prank as shock tactic
Men stand in front of the mirror in a pub bathroom washing their hands or checking their reflections in a new public service announcement released last week. Suddenly, a piercing crash sends each prank victim leaping backward as a woman's bloody face appears from the other side of the broken mirror.
The advertisement is the latest effort of Britain's THINK! drink driving campaign, designed to shock young drivers with its gory representation of what it looks like when someone smashes through a windshield.
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It might double as a test of heart strength.
The woman is a dummy, of course, and Metro U.K. reports the men in the video are actors. We suggest you avoid low ceilings and loud volume; this ad could make you jump.
The video has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube and it has started discussions on social media, from those who support the shock tactic and the unsuspecting viewers who are still recovering from stumbling upon the video.
WATCH: #Publooshocker campaign so horrifying it could just put off drink drivers... WARNING, MAY CAUSE HEART ATTACK express.co.uk/news/weird/406…
— Daily_Express (@Daily_Express) June 10, 2013
This anti-drunk driving ad will scare you out of ever drinking & driving #publooshocker ow.ly/lRbNr youtu.be/TADO4LG29bs — RYOT NEWS (@RYOTnews) June 9, 2013
This has gone nuts over the weekend and with good reason. youtube.com/watch?feature=…#publooshocker
— Adam Ferrier (@adamferrier) June 10, 2013
The latest statistics suggest drunk driving accounts for 15 per cent of deaths on UK roads, according to the department of transportation.
The UK has produced graphic commercials in the past to rattle viewers into better behaviour. Last year, posters showing dead people in a morgue with messages discouraging texting and driving were part of a campaign in London.
A 2009 PSA produced by police in Gwent, Wales disturbed viewers with its violent depiction of an accident caused by texting while driving.
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The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia once pulled from television a PSA about drinking and driving that showed young men getting caught in awkward sexual situations, then compared it to being caught drinking and driving, according to the Victoria Times-Colonist.
Apparently it wasn't having much of an effect, aside from making everyone shift in their seats uncomfortably.
