NZTA

New Zealand Transport Agency – “responsible for contributing to an affordable. Promoting

safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility of driver, vehicle  [ˈviːəkl]
licensing, driving tests and so on, and administering the NZ state highway network.

NZTA has launched the anti-drink advertisement for a new generation, comedy is used to
convey [kənˈveɪ] information. The addition of a humorous element is another feature that
distinguishes ‘legend’ ads from previous ones, which relied on spooky ['spu:ki] tactics
'tæktɪks] and gruesome shots. By using humor that their target audience can understand, they
are able to capture their attention while giving them a clear message. “You know I cannot
grab your ghost chips” appeared in the advertisement had been widely spread on major social
media, as of October 2011, the ‘Legend’ ad had been viewed more than two million times
and YouTube statistics showing the highest demographic of watchers were males aged
between 24 and 35.

NZTA sets out the thinking behind the campaign…

In New Zealand, the young drinking drivers occupy the great mass of all drunk
driving accident. Exceeding 40% of drivers who cause drunk driving accidents are
under the age of 24. Of all fatal or serious injury-related traffic accidents from
2008 to 2010, 82% of drunk drivers were male. Of these accidents, 34% of drunk
drivers and 38% of young drivers were Maori  [ˈmaʊri]. One in five (19%) drunk
drivers are between the ages of 15 and 19, while another 24% are aged 20-24.

Actually, these boys are not bad guys, they are just good people who made the wrong
choice. Although the consequences of drunk driving are well known, it is also generally
accepted that they would probably get away with it and not be detected by the police.

Some people may think that the result of humour is to weaken the potential severity [sɪ
ˈverəti] of advertising information. Others may think that humour actually helps to print
information more firmly in the minds of the audience, and the wider the spread, the less
disappointing it is. Most embarrassing of all, no one will stop them or make them
uncomfortable with their drink-driving choices. Because the problem is not that youth do
not rationally know what they should do, but rather how social pressure affects them not
to speak out. This advertisement provides a way for young people to speak freely
through positive reinforcement  [ˌriːɪnˈfɔːsmənt] and oral humor and persuade [pəˈsweɪd]
a mate from drink driving. Through this advertisement, people’s attitudes and behaviors
about drink driving have changed. At least to some extent, in the past five years, the
number of young people caught in drunk driving has decreased by 50%.