Quirky Ad: Dumb Ways to Die [Video]
How to deliver a memorable public service message about a morbid topic? Australian ad creator John Mescall decided to use the Mary Poppins approach: “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Except why use a spoon when a truck load is better?
Mescall and his crew at McCann Worldgroup designed an animated PSA for Melbourne Metro with the simple message that getting hit by a train is a dumb way to die. The message is underscored by a sickeningly but frighteningly catchy tune.
“We’ve got people eating superglue, sticking forks in toasters and selling both their kidneys. But truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and we still couldn’t come up with dumber ways to die than driving around boomgates and all the other things people do to put themselves in harm’s way around trains. The aim of this campaign is to engage an audience that really doesn’t want to hear any kind of safety message – and we think dumb ways to die will.” — John Mescall, Executive Creative Director, McCann
Video clip posted to YouTube by DumbWays2Die
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