May 29, 2022 • 21 mins
Government and advocacy groups want us all to make healthier and safer choices. Yet, changing undesirable behaviour is notoriously challenging. Why then are fear appeal ads – when done well – such an effective means to jump-start us into action? This episode looks at the ways the Victorian TAC — Transport Accident Commission — leverage fear appeal ads to reduce our road death tolls.
Hosted by journalist Lynne Malcolm for the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. Featuring Associate Professor Cassie Hayward and TAC's Head of Road Safety Sam (Samatha) Cockfield. Our production team is: Carly Godden (producer), Amy Bugeja and Mairead Murray (assistant producers), Arch Cuthburtson (sound engineer) and Chris Falk (music).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This podcast is made on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, the Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung. We'd like to acknowledge and pay respects to their elders, both past and present and emerging.
Hi, I'm Lynne Malcolm. Welcome again to PsychTalks , a
series about what studies in psychology can reveal
about some of the big issues in modern Australia and beyond.
A quick heads up before we begin. Just be aware
that this episode includes dramatisations of road accidents, medical procedures
(00:41):
and scenes of distress. Today, in psych talks, we're looking
at a type of ad that's designed to stop us
in our tracks.
It's not just the physical injuries. You have to learn
to cope with that.
It's the sheer waste and the stench of alcohol that
stays with you. I'm just ringing
Speaker 1 (01:00):
to inform you that your daughter Lucy has been involved
in a car accident.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You'll need to come down
that looks very messy.
These confronting advertisements like this one by Victoria's Transport Accident Commission,
the use a technique called Fear appeal, and if they
(01:26):
seem familiar, that's because fear appeal ads have become a
mainstay of public health and safety, campaigning in Australia and
in many other countries.
But why do the organisations behind fear appeals persist with
this style of advertising year on year? We put this
question to social psychologist Cassie Hayward, associate professor at the
(01:49):
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. In the field of behaviour change,
science ads that try and tap into our emotional reaction
to an issue rather than just our kind of rational
or informational needs are called fear appeals. But they called
this because they try and leverage our
fear of an issue as a way to jump starters interaction.
(02:12):
We also went straight to the source. The TAC's here's
Sam Cockfield, their head of road safety,
Speaker 1 (02:20):
the Transport Accident Commission most commonly known as the TAC are
Victorian government owned organisation, whose role it is to promote
road safety and to support those who have been injured
on our roads and help them get their lives back
on track. To reduce the
Victoria police have introduced a new type of speed. Camera
Speaker 2 (02:42):
operation is totally
Speaker 1 (02:43):
automatic. We've been heavily involved in promoting words safety through advertising,
since 1989
and we've really been using those Fear Appeal style campaign
since that time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Bumper hits the knee joint, tearing flesh and ligaments. The
full weight of the skull smashes through the windscreen. The
next snaps, the skull shatters and the pedestrian's brain is
turned into pulp
in little more than a second. The pedestrians body will
hit the road with a 70% chance of being dead.
It's not just about scaring us or showing us something terrifying.
(03:20):
There's a really specific recipe to make an effective fear
appeal at,
and it basically comes down to presenting the issue in
a way that makes people think it's a real and
serious threat to them and their loved ones. Whatever the
issue is, that's being advertised. So you really want people
to have what we call that. That could be me
response that you want them to look at the ad
(03:41):
and see themselves in that situation. But equally important is
that the ad needs to provide some kind of action
plan or solution to motivate people into action. And had
you been braking from 60 Ks, not 70
there's a good chance you could have stopped in time
and the question would have suffered nothing worse than a
severe from
(04:01):
think about it,
Um, and that's what we call it, that I can
do something about it. Response. And that's really the crux
of a good
fear based appeal. And you can't have one component without
the other. It's how those two pieces work together. Um,
that has the impact on people.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Road safety is ever evolving.
We probably started out primarily with high level speeding and
drink driving as the key issues we were targeting. But
over time, new issues have emerged. Were better understood issues
such as fatigue and drowsy driving.
The emergence of mobile phones means that we've got a
(04:38):
totally new issue that we couldn't have even envisaged 25
years ago.
So there's always a reason to be trying to appeal
to people to change their behaviour and and give them,
I suppose, plans, as Cassie said, to how to do that,
Speaker 2 (04:55):
According to Cassie, getting fear appeal adds, right is a
fine art,
Speaker 1 (05:01):
so it's
Speaker 2 (05:02):
a really simple recipe, but it's really hard to get right,
and you see a lot of ads fail in this space.
Um, so the scene you're presenting has to reflect reality.
It can't be too tame, but nor can it be
to kind of extreme or over the top. It's those
realistic kind of gritty ones that really hit home. And
(05:22):
the action plan also has to be doable so it
can be challenging. But it has to be something that's
achievable for people to do.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Cassie
Speaker 2 (05:30):
says that you can see these elements working together brilliantly
in many to the advertisements. One of my favourites is
their motorcycle protective clothing ad. In that ad,
we see a really grim scene of a motorcycle rider
(05:53):
who's come off the bike like we see into his
leg on the operating table called scrubbed Out and all
the dead tissue. But the ad has a really clear
action plan about wearing protective clothing. They've been wearing leather.
He could have walked away from this.
It's one of the clearest and best examples of this
style of ad.
(06:13):
Cassie also believes that the key to getting the message
across is knowing your audience.
It's not about one ad that is relevant to everyone.
It's about specific, targeted ads being an at risk group.
Young people are often TAC's target market, but It's not
always about age. Many public health campaigns are targeting a
(06:37):
behaviour that can be relevant to abroad
and rage. So take that TAC motorcycle protective clothing ad
that we mentioned. That sort of gruesome reality of what
can happen when you come off your bike on the
road would have an impact on a 20 year old
motorcycle rider as well as a 50 year old motorcycle rider.
It is notoriously hard to change people's behaviour.
(07:00):
What evidence do we have that fear based appeals work?
It is really, really hard to change people's behaviour, but
there is a lot of evidence in this space, so
it's been a really great meta analysis of fear appeals.
So a meta analysis is basically a summary of all
the studies that have looked at a particular topic.
Um, and this meta analysis is really comprehensive and very
(07:22):
clear in the finding that this style of advertising works.
And then you also have evidence within the organisations that
do this type of advertising. So that's not research that's
necessarily available to the public. But places like the will
have a really solid research focus that evaluate many metrics
of effectiveness of their ads.
Tax Sam Cockfield
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Drugs and driving has been an issue for us for
about 20 years. Initially, we knew we had a problem,
but it was very difficult
to deter people from taking drugs and driving because we
didn't have an easy means of enforcement. But Victoria has
been quite proactive on this front and was pretty much
(08:05):
the first
jurisdiction in the world to introduce random drug testing or
a roadside drug. Testing.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Fear based ads for road safety can, of course, target
not just the fear of an accident, but also the
fear of getting caught breaking the rules. Plus, these campaigns
frequently aim to educate the public
about new police methods of detecting wrongdoing.
In the case of drug driving, Sam says, generally, people
(08:33):
didn't need too much convincing about the first part, that
it was a dangerous safety risk.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Most people already believe that, so that's not too difficult.
It's really a reminder and just heightening the knowledge and
the fear that the outcome of drug driving will not
be positive. But then the next part of the campaign
is the one I wanted to speak about. Now was
the fear of detection so Now, if you take drugs
and drive,
(09:00):
it's not only the fact that you might have a
crash into yourself or your loved ones or others on
the road, but the chances are high. You will get caught.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Sir, you've tested positive to illicit drugs. Can you step
out of the
Speaker 1 (09:12):
car, please?
Drugs can remain in your system long after the night's over.
All right?
It was a very strong campaign, and we really saw
some great responses in terms of our market research into
that campaign.
So
Speaker 2 (09:30):
what impact did it have and how did you exactly
measure it?
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So every campaign we developed at the TAC , we
tested every stage. So we test, um, a campaign when
we first had the concept. So we we do market
research with focus groups of the target market. So often
for something like drugs, it will be
youngish males and females whom self admit to taking drugs
(09:58):
and driving.
And so we make sure that the general concept works
with them and also understand what their current understanding of
something like the level of drug testing is. We then
go off, shoot the campaign, and we put it back
into research before we actually
(10:18):
finalise the campaign
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Focus group testing revealed that the target market had an
even stronger response than expected.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We had it on television, radio, in print quite extensively,
and we aim for 90 per cent awareness and we
got 95% awareness that there was no random drug testing.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Testing also shows that 82% of people who said they
took drugs thought the chances of getting caught were high.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So we actually changed people's perceptions about getting caught. The
fact that how they got caught through random drug testing
and the fact that they actually admitted to now seeing
more drug testing going on between roads,
(11:14):
they do too much and they drive, they smash up
cars and the people they are supposed to care about.
If they survive, they are the ones that have
to live with that,
Speaker 2 (11:24):
and that's the real tragedy. If you drink, then drive.
You're a bloody idiot.
If you drink, then drive. You're a bloody idiot.
You've just heard part of TAC's first ever ad, which
ends with the signature slogan they're most known for. It
was introduced in the late 19 eighties when drink driving
(11:44):
was still somewhat socially acceptable.
As TAC's Sam Cockfield explains, they've been able to measure
how attitudes to drink driving have evolved
Speaker 1 (11:55):
year on year. When we do what we call social
acceptability studies,
Speaker 2 (11:59):
we asked
Speaker 1 (12:00):
them as an example, What do you think the unacceptability
of high level drink driving is? What do you think
the unacceptability of low level drink driving is?
And we then compare it to other social issues such as,
Let's just say, having an extramarital affair or picking your nose,
and we actually see particularly high level drink driving as
(12:22):
completely unacceptable. It's pretty much been the most unacceptable thing
we can do in Victoria
of any behaviours that we've tested for and low level
drink driving and drugs and driving is not that far behind.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
According to TAC data, When they began campaigning at the
end of the 19 eighties, drink driving made up roughly
half of all road fatalities. That's dropped to between 15
to 20%
associate professor Cassie Heywood. If you look at a drink driving,
there hasn't really been that much that's changed in drink
(12:56):
driving legislation over the past say, 15 or 20 years.
But when you look at those stats on social acceptability
of drink driving, it's changed dramatically, and I think the
ads that have done in that space have contributed to
that change in social norms and social acceptability.
And that really goes to show how important it is
for us to be accepted by our peers and to
(13:19):
then engage in the behaviours that will be accepted by
our peers. But fear appeal ads can, for some groups
have certain limitations.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
One of the issues with
consistently seeing for appeal type campaigns in the market
and it doesn't relate just to t a C. It
relates to a range of health issues, and we know
we see similar types of campaigns,
for example, from smoking.
People can start to turn off once they know
(13:49):
what they are about to see.
So some people continue to watch and are fascinated and
can almost take in the message time and time again.
Others will hear
the introductory music or the first few words of an
ad and can just not tune into it at all.
And that's probably the biggest pitfall, and I think that's
(14:10):
probably happened a little bit more over time as more
and more public health issues have picked
Speaker 2 (14:16):
up this style
Speaker 1 (14:17):
of advertising.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Typically, TAC's fear appeal adds only target a small portion
of the driving community
as low as 23 or 4%.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So you've got a very large, expensive campaigns targeting a
very small proportion of drivers. So you've also got to
think a little bit about what Might I
assist us to get that message out in another way?
As an example,
we might think about, say,
(14:49):
with motorcycle protective clothing, we know that, uh, we do
have a certain feeling of invincibility as a as motorcyclists
and I have a motorcycle licence so I can count
myself amongst the people who might have that feeling
and that were prepared to take risks because we genuinely
(15:09):
don't think it's going to happen to us.
But we find that loved ones parents of young people
who were motorbikes, um,
partners, they've really got self interest in not seeing their
loved one harm.
So, you know, how can we actually get those sort
(15:30):
of people involved in the issue and becoming part of
the plan, so to speak, to move behaviour?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Cassie also points out
that the impact of TAC advertisements
aren't the only factors influencing road safety statistics.
It's not just the driver's behaviour
that determines the outcomes on the road. It's the road system.
It's the road quality. It's the car. It's the technology
of the car. It's other drivers. It's the weather. So
(16:00):
it's this hugely complex system that we're trying to attempt
to influence. So the best chance we have of reaching
that goal of a reduction in road trauma is when
all of those
parts of the system work together, which is also something
that
the TAC aims to do.
And when it comes to drink driving, Sam says that
no matter how good a fear based ad campaign, maybe
(16:22):
it can't stop those who were dependent on alcohol from
taking risks.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Alcohol dependency is an issue in our community, which means
it's very difficult.
But people, no matter how well intentioned, once they start
drinking to stop for some people.
And so there are a range of,
I suppose, initiatives that we look at in road safety.
Some of them are general public health type initiatives where
(16:49):
we work with health authorities in interventions to help people
recognising they might have an alcohol problem,
Speaker 2 (16:58):
but it's the use of technology that Sam thinks will
have the biggest impact in the years to come when
looking to solutions to drink driving outside of advertising.
If you lose your licence for drink driving, an alcohol
interlock will be fitted to any vehicle you drive, which
means you're currently convicted drink drivers. Cars are routinely fitted
(17:20):
with an alcohol interlock. They require a zero blood alcohol
reading on a breathalyser to get the vehicle moving the
interlocks up pain
a little over a lot to lose. Interlocks may, however,
be soon surpassed by what's called a passive alcohol system,
which has sensors that passively detect alcohol on the drivers.
(17:42):
Breath experts say this technology is much more precise than
interlocks
and may even make it virtually impossible to drink drive.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
We've just bought a demonstration vehicle to Victoria to look
at is this passive alcohol system
so it's basically within one second abuse that in the
car
takes in the driver. Exhale breath. So when you breathe
out will quickly test it to an infrared system and
let you know whether you're right to go or not.
In fact, it will just the car will just go
(18:12):
if if you're right to go, if it's not, the
car will stay on. But you won't be right to drive.
We know this is the way of the future. If
you've got a dependency problem, this is what you need.
You need something in the car to help you make
good decisions. And so this is the type of intervention
we're looking at for the future.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
We know how hard it is to change behaviour and
get someone to kind of admit that they shouldn't be
behind the wheel. Technology will make that easier to enforce. Obviously,
I still think that there's a huge role for advertising
and I think to that point we're seeing a much
more scientific approach to advertising development. So many ad agencies
(18:50):
now have people with a psychology background.
We at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences now have
a masters programme in applied psychology, which was really about
training students of psychology in this field of applied psychology
going into these places and that's had a great response
in terms of our grads getting hired into really exciting roles.
(19:11):
Many in the public health space,
says Sam TAC's fear appeal ads have clearly helped redefine
what it means to be a responsible, safe
Speaker 1 (19:22):
driver.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
See
Speaker 1 (19:25):
him?
It's only a little bit
Speaker 2 (19:27):
injured.
We
Speaker 1 (19:29):
moved that tag line from If you drink and drive,
you're a bloody idiot to only a little bit over
you bloody idiot! And we re forecast what it meant
to be a drink driver. So now people knew anything.
At the point of five, you were a drink driver.
And now we're starting to move that doll again to
(19:49):
explain any amount of alcohol actually impairs you.
And so we've now got a new message out that
is about separation. It's about you really don't know what
level you're at once you start driving
and any level impairs you, so drinking and driving they're
better apart is now our messaging. And
(20:13):
we've really been able to get to that spot over
basically 30 years of advertising
Speaker 2 (20:18):
when done well, fear appeal ads have proven to be
an influential force on many of us and a powerful tool,
one that health and safety campaigners will continue to use.
Always ask my students what ads they remember from when
they were growing up, which always makes me feel really old,
but it's good for the activity. But for anyone who
(20:38):
grew up in Victoria, the ads are always top abilities.
So these ads really stick with people and continue to
play on their mind and have an impact on them.
And that's a really big success
to have from an. And so it's not something that
all that's can claim to do it.
It's hard enough just to get noticed, let alone remembered.
10 or 15 years later. Over the next 12 months,
(21:00):
more than one million Victorian motorists will be breath tested.
It's a $250 Fine. Your licence will be cancelled for six months.
So if you drink, then drive really didn't drink that much.
You're a bloody idiot. Breath tests
just get you
Mhm.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of PsychTalks made
with support from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. And
(21:24):
a huge thanks, of course, also goes to our guests
Associate Professor Cassie Hayward and Sam Cockfield. Our producer today
was Carly Goddon,
and our assistant producers are Amy Bugeja and Mairéad Murray.
Arch Cuthbertson with our sound engineer and music was composed
by Chris Falk.
(21:44):
You can listen to more episodes of PsychTalks with me,
Lynne Malcolm, by subscribing to our show wherever you get
your podcasts.
See you next time.
This podcast is made on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, the Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung. We'd like to acknowledge and pay respects to their elders, both past and present and emerging.
Hi, I'm Lynne Malcolm. Welcome again to PsychTalks , a
series about what studies in psychology can reveal
about some of the big issues in modern Australia and beyond.
A quick heads up before we begin. Just be aware
that this episode includes dramatisations of road accidents, medical procedures
(00:41):
and scenes of distress. Today, in psych talks, we're looking
at a type of ad that's designed to stop us
in our tracks.
It's not just the physical injuries. You have to learn
to cope with that.
It's the sheer waste and the stench of alcohol that
stays with you. I'm just ringing
Speaker 1 (01:00):
to inform you that your daughter Lucy has been involved
in a car accident.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You'll need to come down
that looks very messy.
These confronting advertisements like this one by Victoria's Transport Accident Commission,
the use a technique called Fear appeal, and if they
(01:26):
seem familiar, that's because fear appeal ads have become a
mainstay of public health and safety, campaigning in Australia and
in many other countries.
But why do the organisations behind fear appeals persist with
this style of advertising year on year? We put this
question to social psychologist Cassie Hayward, associate professor at the
(01:49):
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. In the field of behaviour change,
science ads that try and tap into our emotional reaction
to an issue rather than just our kind of rational
or informational needs are called fear appeals. But they called
this because they try and leverage our
fear of an issue as a way to jump starters interaction.
(02:12):
We also went straight to the source. The TAC's here's
Sam Cockfield, their head of road safety,
Speaker 1 (02:20):
the Transport Accident Commission most commonly known as the TAC are
Victorian government owned organisation, whose role it is to promote
road safety and to support those who have been injured
on our roads and help them get their lives back
on track. To reduce the
Victoria police have introduced a new type of speed. Camera
Speaker 2 (02:42):
operation is totally
Speaker 1 (02:43):
automatic. We've been heavily involved in promoting words safety through advertising,
since 1989
and we've really been using those Fear Appeal style campaign
since that time.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Bumper hits the knee joint, tearing flesh and ligaments. The
full weight of the skull smashes through the windscreen. The
next snaps, the skull shatters and the pedestrian's brain is
turned into pulp
in little more than a second. The pedestrians body will
hit the road with a 70% chance of being dead.
It's not just about scaring us or showing us something terrifying.
(03:20):
There's a really specific recipe to make an effective fear
appeal at,
and it basically comes down to presenting the issue in
a way that makes people think it's a real and
serious threat to them and their loved ones. Whatever the
issue is, that's being advertised. So you really want people
to have what we call that. That could be me
response that you want them to look at the ad
(03:41):
and see themselves in that situation. But equally important is
that the ad needs to provide some kind of action
plan or solution to motivate people into action. And had
you been braking from 60 Ks, not 70
there's a good chance you could have stopped in time
and the question would have suffered nothing worse than a
severe from
(04:01):
think about it,
Um, and that's what we call it, that I can
do something about it. Response. And that's really the crux
of a good
fear based appeal. And you can't have one component without
the other. It's how those two pieces work together. Um,
that has the impact on people.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Road safety is ever evolving.
We probably started out primarily with high level speeding and
drink driving as the key issues we were targeting. But
over time, new issues have emerged. Were better understood issues
such as fatigue and drowsy driving.
The emergence of mobile phones means that we've got a
(04:38):
totally new issue that we couldn't have even envisaged 25
years ago.
So there's always a reason to be trying to appeal
to people to change their behaviour and and give them,
I suppose, plans, as Cassie said, to how to do that,
Speaker 2 (04:55):
According to Cassie, getting fear appeal adds, right is a
fine art,
Speaker 1 (05:01):
so it's
Speaker 2 (05:02):
a really simple recipe, but it's really hard to get right,
and you see a lot of ads fail in this space.
Um, so the scene you're presenting has to reflect reality.
It can't be too tame, but nor can it be
to kind of extreme or over the top. It's those
realistic kind of gritty ones that really hit home. And
(05:22):
the action plan also has to be doable so it
can be challenging. But it has to be something that's
achievable for people to do.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Cassie
Speaker 2 (05:30):
says that you can see these elements working together brilliantly
in many to the advertisements. One of my favourites is
their motorcycle protective clothing ad. In that ad,
we see a really grim scene of a motorcycle rider
(05:53):
who's come off the bike like we see into his
leg on the operating table called scrubbed Out and all
the dead tissue. But the ad has a really clear
action plan about wearing protective clothing. They've been wearing leather.
He could have walked away from this.
It's one of the clearest and best examples of this
style of ad.
(06:13):
Cassie also believes that the key to getting the message
across is knowing your audience.
It's not about one ad that is relevant to everyone.
It's about specific, targeted ads being an at risk group.
Young people are often TAC's target market, but It's not
always about age. Many public health campaigns are targeting a
(06:37):
behaviour that can be relevant to abroad
and rage. So take that TAC motorcycle protective clothing ad
that we mentioned. That sort of gruesome reality of what
can happen when you come off your bike on the
road would have an impact on a 20 year old
motorcycle rider as well as a 50 year old motorcycle rider.
It is notoriously hard to change people's behaviour.
(07:00):
What evidence do we have that fear based appeals work?
It is really, really hard to change people's behaviour, but
there is a lot of evidence in this space, so
it's been a really great meta analysis of fear appeals.
So a meta analysis is basically a summary of all
the studies that have looked at a particular topic.
Um, and this meta analysis is really comprehensive and very
(07:22):
clear in the finding that this style of advertising works.
And then you also have evidence within the organisations that
do this type of advertising. So that's not research that's
necessarily available to the public. But places like the will
have a really solid research focus that evaluate many metrics
of effectiveness of their ads.
Tax Sam Cockfield
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Drugs and driving has been an issue for us for
about 20 years. Initially, we knew we had a problem,
but it was very difficult
to deter people from taking drugs and driving because we
didn't have an easy means of enforcement. But Victoria has
been quite proactive on this front and was pretty much
(08:05):
the first
jurisdiction in the world to introduce random drug testing or
a roadside drug. Testing.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Fear based ads for road safety can, of course, target
not just the fear of an accident, but also the
fear of getting caught breaking the rules. Plus, these campaigns
frequently aim to educate the public
about new police methods of detecting wrongdoing.
In the case of drug driving, Sam says, generally, people
(08:33):
didn't need too much convincing about the first part, that
it was a dangerous safety risk.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Most people already believe that, so that's not too difficult.
It's really a reminder and just heightening the knowledge and
the fear that the outcome of drug driving will not
be positive. But then the next part of the campaign
is the one I wanted to speak about. Now was
the fear of detection so Now, if you take drugs
and drive,
(09:00):
it's not only the fact that you might have a
crash into yourself or your loved ones or others on
the road, but the chances are high. You will get caught.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Sir, you've tested positive to illicit drugs. Can you step
out of the
Speaker 1 (09:12):
car, please?
Drugs can remain in your system long after the night's over.
All right?
It was a very strong campaign, and we really saw
some great responses in terms of our market research into
that campaign.
So
Speaker 2 (09:30):
what impact did it have and how did you exactly
measure it?
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So every campaign we developed at the TAC , we
tested every stage. So we test, um, a campaign when
we first had the concept. So we we do market
research with focus groups of the target market. So often
for something like drugs, it will be
youngish males and females whom self admit to taking drugs
(09:58):
and driving.
And so we make sure that the general concept works
with them and also understand what their current understanding of
something like the level of drug testing is. We then
go off, shoot the campaign, and we put it back
into research before we actually
(10:18):
finalise the campaign
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Focus group testing revealed that the target market had an
even stronger response than expected.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We had it on television, radio, in print quite extensively,
and we aim for 90 per cent awareness and we
got 95% awareness that there was no random drug testing.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Testing also shows that 82% of people who said they
took drugs thought the chances of getting caught were high.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So we actually changed people's perceptions about getting caught. The
fact that how they got caught through random drug testing
and the fact that they actually admitted to now seeing
more drug testing going on between roads,
(11:14):
they do too much and they drive, they smash up
cars and the people they are supposed to care about.
If they survive, they are the ones that have
to live with that,
Speaker 2 (11:24):
and that's the real tragedy. If you drink, then drive.
You're a bloody idiot.
If you drink, then drive. You're a bloody idiot.
You've just heard part of TAC's first ever ad, which
ends with the signature slogan they're most known for. It
was introduced in the late 19 eighties when drink driving
(11:44):
was still somewhat socially acceptable.
As TAC's Sam Cockfield explains, they've been able to measure
how attitudes to drink driving have evolved
Speaker 1 (11:55):
year on year. When we do what we call social
acceptability studies,
Speaker 2 (11:59):
we asked
Speaker 1 (12:00):
them as an example, What do you think the unacceptability
of high level drink driving is? What do you think
the unacceptability of low level drink driving is?
And we then compare it to other social issues such as,
Let's just say, having an extramarital affair or picking your nose,
and we actually see particularly high level drink driving as
(12:22):
completely unacceptable. It's pretty much been the most unacceptable thing
we can do in Victoria
of any behaviours that we've tested for and low level
drink driving and drugs and driving is not that far behind.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
According to TAC data, When they began campaigning at the
end of the 19 eighties, drink driving made up roughly
half of all road fatalities. That's dropped to between 15
to 20%
associate professor Cassie Heywood. If you look at a drink driving,
there hasn't really been that much that's changed in drink
(12:56):
driving legislation over the past say, 15 or 20 years.
But when you look at those stats on social acceptability
of drink driving, it's changed dramatically, and I think the
ads that have done in that space have contributed to
that change in social norms and social acceptability.
And that really goes to show how important it is
for us to be accepted by our peers and to
(13:19):
then engage in the behaviours that will be accepted by
our peers. But fear appeal ads can, for some groups
have certain limitations.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
One of the issues with
consistently seeing for appeal type campaigns in the market
and it doesn't relate just to t a C. It
relates to a range of health issues, and we know
we see similar types of campaigns,
for example, from smoking.
People can start to turn off once they know
(13:49):
what they are about to see.
So some people continue to watch and are fascinated and
can almost take in the message time and time again.
Others will hear
the introductory music or the first few words of an
ad and can just not tune into it at all.
And that's probably the biggest pitfall, and I think that's
(14:10):
probably happened a little bit more over time as more
and more public health issues have picked
Speaker 2 (14:16):
up this style
Speaker 1 (14:17):
of advertising.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Typically, TAC's fear appeal adds only target a small portion
of the driving community
as low as 23 or 4%.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So you've got a very large, expensive campaigns targeting a
very small proportion of drivers. So you've also got to
think a little bit about what Might I
assist us to get that message out in another way?
As an example,
we might think about, say,
(14:49):
with motorcycle protective clothing, we know that, uh, we do
have a certain feeling of invincibility as a as motorcyclists
and I have a motorcycle licence so I can count
myself amongst the people who might have that feeling
and that were prepared to take risks because we genuinely
(15:09):
don't think it's going to happen to us.
But we find that loved ones parents of young people
who were motorbikes, um,
partners, they've really got self interest in not seeing their
loved one harm.
So, you know, how can we actually get those sort
(15:30):
of people involved in the issue and becoming part of
the plan, so to speak, to move behaviour?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Cassie also points out
that the impact of TAC advertisements
aren't the only factors influencing road safety statistics.
It's not just the driver's behaviour
that determines the outcomes on the road. It's the road system.
It's the road quality. It's the car. It's the technology
of the car. It's other drivers. It's the weather. So
(16:00):
it's this hugely complex system that we're trying to attempt
to influence. So the best chance we have of reaching
that goal of a reduction in road trauma is when
all of those
parts of the system work together, which is also something
that
the TAC aims to do.
And when it comes to drink driving, Sam says that
no matter how good a fear based ad campaign, maybe
(16:22):
it can't stop those who were dependent on alcohol from
taking risks.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Alcohol dependency is an issue in our community, which means
it's very difficult.
But people, no matter how well intentioned, once they start
drinking to stop for some people.
And so there are a range of,
I suppose, initiatives that we look at in road safety.
Some of them are general public health type initiatives where
(16:49):
we work with health authorities in interventions to help people
recognising they might have an alcohol problem,
Speaker 2 (16:58):
but it's the use of technology that Sam thinks will
have the biggest impact in the years to come when
looking to solutions to drink driving outside of advertising.
If you lose your licence for drink driving, an alcohol
interlock will be fitted to any vehicle you drive, which
means you're currently convicted drink drivers. Cars are routinely fitted
(17:20):
with an alcohol interlock. They require a zero blood alcohol
reading on a breathalyser to get the vehicle moving the
interlocks up pain
a little over a lot to lose. Interlocks may, however,
be soon surpassed by what's called a passive alcohol system,
which has sensors that passively detect alcohol on the drivers.
(17:42):
Breath experts say this technology is much more precise than
interlocks
and may even make it virtually impossible to drink drive.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
We've just bought a demonstration vehicle to Victoria to look
at is this passive alcohol system
so it's basically within one second abuse that in the
car
takes in the driver. Exhale breath. So when you breathe
out will quickly test it to an infrared system and
let you know whether you're right to go or not.
In fact, it will just the car will just go
(18:12):
if if you're right to go, if it's not, the
car will stay on. But you won't be right to drive.
We know this is the way of the future. If
you've got a dependency problem, this is what you need.
You need something in the car to help you make
good decisions. And so this is the type of intervention
we're looking at for the future.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
We know how hard it is to change behaviour and
get someone to kind of admit that they shouldn't be
behind the wheel. Technology will make that easier to enforce. Obviously,
I still think that there's a huge role for advertising
and I think to that point we're seeing a much
more scientific approach to advertising development. So many ad agencies
(18:50):
now have people with a psychology background.
We at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences now have
a masters programme in applied psychology, which was really about
training students of psychology in this field of applied psychology
going into these places and that's had a great response
in terms of our grads getting hired into really exciting roles.
(19:11):
Many in the public health space,
says Sam TAC's fear appeal ads have clearly helped redefine
what it means to be a responsible, safe
Speaker 1 (19:22):
driver.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
See
Speaker 1 (19:25):
him?
It's only a little bit
Speaker 2 (19:27):
injured.
We
Speaker 1 (19:29):
moved that tag line from If you drink and drive,
you're a bloody idiot to only a little bit over
you bloody idiot! And we re forecast what it meant
to be a drink driver. So now people knew anything.
At the point of five, you were a drink driver.
And now we're starting to move that doll again to
(19:49):
explain any amount of alcohol actually impairs you.
And so we've now got a new message out that
is about separation. It's about you really don't know what
level you're at once you start driving
and any level impairs you, so drinking and driving they're
better apart is now our messaging. And
(20:13):
we've really been able to get to that spot over
basically 30 years of advertising
Speaker 2 (20:18):
when done well, fear appeal ads have proven to be
an influential force on many of us and a powerful tool,
one that health and safety campaigners will continue to use.
Always ask my students what ads they remember from when
they were growing up, which always makes me feel really old,
but it's good for the activity. But for anyone who
(20:38):
grew up in Victoria, the ads are always top abilities.
So these ads really stick with people and continue to
play on their mind and have an impact on them.
And that's a really big success
to have from an. And so it's not something that
all that's can claim to do it.
It's hard enough just to get noticed, let alone remembered.
10 or 15 years later. Over the next 12 months,
(21:00):
more than one million Victorian motorists will be breath tested.
It's a $250 Fine. Your licence will be cancelled for six months.
So if you drink, then drive really didn't drink that much.
You're a bloody idiot. Breath tests
just get you
Mhm.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of PsychTalks made
with support from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. And
(21:24):
a huge thanks, of course, also goes to our guests
Associate Professor Cassie Hayward and Sam Cockfield. Our producer today
was Carly Goddon,
and our assistant producers are Amy Bugeja and Mairéad Murray.
Arch Cuthbertson with our sound engineer and music was composed
by Chris Falk.
(21:44):
You can listen to more episodes of PsychTalks with me,
Lynne Malcolm, by subscribing to our show wherever you get
your podcasts.
See you next time.
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