Posts by Russell Brown
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Andrew C,
Could he be meaning the one where the kids are in the parked car mimicing their dads driving stoned?
The one made by the prominent Māori film-maker in partnership with Māori Television?
Nah, Rich meant “ghost chips” and he's entitled to a view on it, but I'm glad he eventually watched it.
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A sight I'd always enjoy at the Big Day Out was young people in wheelchairs with their mates, dancing in the Boiler Room. It struck me that being off yer chops and wheelchair-dancing looked like a lot of fun.
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Well, I’ll admit to not listening to all the words until I played it back just now, and there is a difference between the narrative message and the surface impression.
I little surprised that you were prepared to publicly deem it “racist” without having listened to it.
Would I like such an ad being pointed at my ethnic class group?
The NZTA page for the ad explains the targeting:
Young drinking drivers make up a large part of all drink-driving crashes. Over 40% of all drink-driving crashes involve drunk drivers under the age of 24 years. In all fatal or serious injury-related crashes in 2008-2010:
82% of the drinking drivers in those crashes are male
34% of all drinking drivers in those crashes, and 38% of the young drivers, are Maori
one in five (19%) of all drinking drivers in crashes are aged 15-19, another 24% are 20-24And the theme:
This campaign aims to encourage people who drink with our drink-driver to take some responsibility and speak up when he is about to drive drunk. We want them to have the guts to speak up and say something without feeling like they’ve killed the mood.
The goal of this advertising is to acknowledge the feelings a young man might have around speaking up when a friend is going to drive drunk. Thinking you might ‘look bad’ in a social situation is what is in the way for most people. We need to break through this barrier and the use of humour is key to achieving this successfully.
Oddly enough, the ad is called ‘Legend’, in line with a running theme, and they initially didn’t know what they had with the “ghost chips” and “internalising a complicated situation” lines, but they had the good sense to go with it when the audience started adopting and adapting it. The young lead became something of a star.
See also ‘Ghost Chips’ by The Cuzzies:
And ‘Ghost Chips’ by the Maozziez:
And these two kids acting out the ad and clearly getting what it’s about:
There’s pages and pages of this stuff on YouTube, most of it made by the group you think is being “pointed at” by whitey. I think they really got this one right.
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Martin Roberts,
Indeed, personally, I begin slowing down automatically that I even see a car at all in that exact situation, just on the presumption that they might pull out for whatever reason. I have my eye pretty much fixed on that car as the most likely danger, and my foot is already on the brake.
I wish the ad every success in fostering that attitude.
It's certainly getting the eyeballs -- well over 9m YouTube views now. I confess I was surprised that the response of some people was focused on the allegedly unfair apportioning of blame. I though the message was more that being in the right wasn't a protection.
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For purposes of comparison, here's NZTA's last speed-themed ad, 'Flying Objects'.
This campaign targets everyday drivers and their passengers. Not the speedsters or hoons who recklessly drive at excessive speeds, but the people whose vehicle speed tends to creep above the limit at a level where they still consider themselves to be driving safely.
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Brent Jackson,
There aren’t many ads aimed at middle aged men driving home drunk from the golf club in their Holden V8 / BMWs, are there?
What about the one about the guy constantly speeding driving his family to the holiday house, and when his son eventually starts driving the same route he totals his car ?
True, that one. But there's a reason that road safety ads target young men. They disproportionately speed, drink-drive and suffer accidents.
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Hard News: A law gone awry, in reply to BenWilson,
The fact that every single one of us just lost the right to every single chemical invented (barring 3), and yet to be invented, if it is the least bit psychoactive, until such a time as goodness-knows-who decides it’s OK, barely even lifts its head.
You are, and have been, correct on this.
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Jeremy Andrew,
So, this post is sponsored by the NZTA. Does this mean our speeding tickets are indirectly feeding Russell and his clan?
'Fraid not! The money goes into the Consolidated Fund.
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Hard News: A law gone awry, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I’ve noticed the amount of government information that’s been supplied about the risks of taking legal and illegal drugs. Stuff like this? As in, none at all.
The Drug Foundation does that, including for synthetic cannabis.
C.A.D.S. has Sorted, but that hasn't been updated since 2008. Budget cut when National came in, presumably.
Sorted probably wasn't helped by Paul Holmes' ridiculous rant (in his terrible TV doco on P) about the section on amphetamines, which noted, quite properly, that amphetamines can be good for parties. Drug information that can't acknowledge the reason people take recreational drugs (the clue is in the name -- they're fun) is of limited use and won't be paid attention to.
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Speaker: Sponsored post: Speed and Safety, in reply to Tom Ackroyd,
And I’m interested in Rich of Observationz’ race/class reading of the Ghost chips ad.
Are you going to be running one of those “funny” racist ads next with the drunk Māori dude talking in the silly voice?
I’m completely puzzled by that reading of it, if he was actually talking about "ghost chips". The genius of “ghost chips” was surely that it granted agency and insight to a character who might not be expected to have either and, as as British site Creative Review notes, it “succeeds by not patronising its main audience.” (Which is arguably where the confusing Drive Social campaign falls down.)
And apart from anything else, the meme jackpot was well and truly struck by that ad. You don’t manage that by insulting your audience or being racist about them. So that just seems like a weird criticism to me.