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The Ad Council has promoted driving safety, one of the first
civilian issues addressed after World War II, since 1945.
However, it wasn't until 1985, that the Ad Council and the
U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration partnered to launch the Seat Belt Education
campaign, one of the most influential campaigns to address
driving safety.
The campaign was developed to encourage vehicle passengers
to use seat belts, and featured Vince and Larry, two crash
test dummies who dramatized what could happen when you don't
wear a seatbelt. The public service advertisements (PSAs)
included the tagline, "You can learn a lot from a dummy?Buckle
your safety belt."
In the first six months of 1986, a DOT survey in 19 cities
reported that 39% of drivers reported using their seat belts
as opposed to 23% a year before. Overall, between 1982 and
1988, seat belt usage by all vehicle passengers nationwide
increased from 11 to 47 percent. While the campaign was not
the only factor, it was definitely a significant one as statistics
reported before the launch indicated that while 80% of Americans
believed seat belts work, only 11% regularly used them.
The public's motivation to buckle up spilled over into the
halls of power and since then a large majority of states have
enacted laws mandating the use of safety belts. Though the
Ad Council is non partisan and non political and therefore
does not design advertising to influence the passage of legislation,
it is generally conceded that awareness of the importance
of seat belts increased as a result of the PSAs and their
constant reminders to "Buckle Up." In 1989, the
use of seat belts in the states that had enacted laws reportedly
rose from 21% to 70%.
According to DOT, an estimated 29,568 lives were saved by
seat belts between 1983 and 1991. Among those saved, approximately
one-quarter were in states without mandatory seat belt laws.
If all front seat occupants had worn seat belts, NHTSA estimates
that an additional15,000 lives would have been saved in 1989
alone. By 1994, when motor vehicle crash deaths were at the
lowest level in 30 years, an estimated 65,290 lives were saved
by seat belts and more than 1.5 million moderate to critical
injuries were prevented.
In 1991, a brief tempest swirled around crash dummies Vince
and Larry. A New Jersey toy company managed to obtain rights
to use the characters and began manufacturing its own Crash
Dummies - appealing to the childish interest in mayhem. When
the manufacturer advertised the toys on TV, three major networks
banished the Vince and Larry PSAs from the airwaves saying
that the public might construe their safety messages as promotion
of the commercial toys. As it turned out, however, the safety
message of Vince and Larry proved more permanent than an individual
product in the volatile toy market.
In its first six years, the Seat Belt Education campaign
garnered more than $337 million in donated media time and
space. In 1990, the campaign was recognized with a Gold Effie
award from the New York chapter of the American Marketing
Association.
Though much ground had been gained on vehicle safety, motor
vehicle crashes were still the leading cause of death among
children. In 1995, the campaign shifted its focus to parents
and caregivers, reminding them to buckle up children in the
backseat and buckle their own safety belt no matter how short
the trip.
In 1999, Vince & Larry and the original timeline were
retired and a new series of more realistic PSAs designed to
target part-time seat belt users was launched with the slogan,
"Buckle Up. Always." The PSAs depict graphic crashes
that happen close to home, often through no fault of the driver;
to help people understand that there is never a safe time
to be unbuckled.
Since the Crash Test Dummies were introduced to the American
public in 1985, seat belt usage has increased from 14% to
79%, saving an estimated 85,000 lives. Most recently, the
campaign again shifted its focus to address the staggering
90% of all children in the U.S who should be restrained in
a booster seat but are not. The goal of this PSA campaign
is to educate parents of children who have outgrown their
child safety seat, that a booster seat is a life-saving transition
to an adult seat belt. The new work will be distributed in
early 2004.
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| Double Date
(1990) |
Backseat Baby
(1997) |
Desert Jeans
(1992) |
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| Enclave (2001) |
Oh Dear (2001) |
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Ad Council
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