Do you think it would be a good idea for car commercials to insert safe driving tips into their commercials?
I saw a car commercial the other day touting new technology that can detect an accident two cars ahead.
In the commercial, the featured car was behind some big, silver, tanker-like semi. She couldn’t see a damn thing beyond his big, flashy rear end. But a fruit truck in front of the tanker lost his load and ‘lo, the featured car detected it and everybody stopped safely.
If it was MY commercial I’d insert something about NOT FOLLOWING OTHER VEHICLES SO CLOSELY THAT YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING BEYOND IT!!
Then there was this local wreck the other day. Bunch of morons simply not paying attention or following too close or whatever.
Couldn’t the commercials take a second for a little PR, like, “Remember the far left lane is for passing only.”
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The purpose of commercials is not to provide a public service announcement. It’s advertising – all they want is to sell you their car.
I understand that @livelaughlove21, but it might make them look good, like they care or something. It would be PR.
A good idea from which perspective?
For the consumer, sure.
For the car manufacturer? No.
A commercial costs money, and every second counts.
Every second spent on car safety tips is a second not used to brainwash you into wanting the car, and is thus wasted time, and wasted money, especially because car safety advice is not exclusive to that particular manufacturer.
They could have briefly acknowledged that good drivers keep a safe distance from traffic ahead of them and try to anticipate what may happen and then mention hoe their new features makes these habits easier and more reliable.
It might be more appropriate for automobile insurance companies, but it’s a good idea. Public service ads, like the stop smoking campaign, might be another venue, with lots of car crash illustrations.
What @ragingloli said. Not the purpose of a commercial, and at astronomical costs per second (production and air time), plus the length of a commercial is barely long enough to get their selling across, let alone driving and safety tips.
@ragingloli @jca Yeah, and if car manufacturers had to mention safety, people might go, what why, is this car not safe enough? It’s all about selling the car. (although air bags are often mentioned, and safety for the family is also mentioned, although nothing that actually says you should drive safely)
Although there do exist car safety commercials, especially drinking and driving ones. They should probably air some of those as much as they do normal car commercials…
Maybe the government or..insurance companies could mount some sort of public service campaign.
Hey! That’s a GREAT idea! When can you start??
It would be better if all states just made everyone take a Defensive Driving course.
I have long wished they had the funds to get a simulator that people have to master in order to get their drive’s license.
It isn’t enough to just know how to drive a car, you have to know how to look for danger and know/anticipate what forms that danger may take.
Right. And a simulator could throw all of the dangers right in people’s faces until they learned how to prepare for them. Some people NEVER figure it out. They can be 50 years old and still drive like they’ve had their license for a week and don’t have a clue.
They could even charge for the simulators. I know I’d find a way to come up with the money to put my kids through one.
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