Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Disturbing Australian ad campaigns

Australian commercials are clearly not made for the squeamish. Worksafe Victoria, the government agency in charge of workplace health and saftey, recently launched an ad campaign that is disturbing, to say the least. First, they aired some commercials that showed people throwing our their backs and breaking their ankles that were pretty graphic- cracking sounds, visuals of snapping bones, etc. Then, billboards like these started popping up around Melbourne. However, the worst was yet to come: a television ad showing a girl getting her hand caught in a bread slicer, including a close-up shot of...a severed finger! C'mon now, nobody wants to see that while they're watching Australia's Next Top Model.

Apparently Australia has a history of shocking advertisements- the pioneers of this tactic, the transportation authority TAC, recently put out a montage of (in)famous commercials for their 20th anniversary. Because nothing says "please drive safely" like a mangled corpse in the road.

4 comments:

Suldog said...

I'm of two minds about it. Disturbing, for sure, and I don't think I'd enjoy being shocked by it on the road or while watching a TV show. But these sorts of things would probably be worthwhile to post in actual workplaces where such accidents were possible. It would certainly make the people most likely to be hurt stop and ask for those directions, for example.

buddymollys said...

man! (molly and i just watched the montage and she said, "i don't know whether to cry or throw up,") crazy. i'll definitely drink at least one more beer now:) i think like Suldog said, they should show this at workplaces too.

eileen said...

yes, even though the ads are shocking, they are considered quite effective. I guess that's the point.

Anonymous said...

Really amazing and well maintained blog. I appreciate your work. Thanks!
Cheap Web Hosting