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Northern Ireland’s anti speeding campaign

Almost by definition, public safety campaigns occasionally alarm viewers; scaring people into moderating their behaviour is, after all, part of the point of them. But Northern Ireland’s latest anti speeding road safety commercial has been regarded as so shocking that it can only be seen on television after the 9 o’clock watershed.

It has gone viral on the internet, of course, notching up massive viewing figures on a number of different sites; more than 3.5 million have watched it on YouTube alone.

When you’ve seen the anti speeding video, you may not be surprised to discover that responses have varied from thinking it 1) shocking 2) shamelessly manipulative 3) ridiculously over-the-top, perhaps to the point of being counter-productive 4) perfectly justifiable, if it’s designed to be a metaphorical representation of what would otherwise be a dry set of figures, and 5) effective at making the point that, if you’re not in control of your vehicle, you can never guess the consequences. Thinking it’s all of those things, and in that order, seems to be a fairly common reaction.

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