# Giving a negative message positively



## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

I work in emotional intelligence and I am always on the look out for examples of where EI is used, even if unwittingly. This film, designed for commercial breaks on tv and intended to encourage people to wear seat belts in cars, throws out of the window all the cliches of showing horrific accidents and telling harrowing tales of shattered lives.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Brilliant work, and more effective than the typical "shock and scare" tactics. I'm always impressed by the ingenuity of some of these PSAs.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Are these kinds of things statistically more effective?

I have no issue with the alternate approach, I just wonder if there's actually _any_ way to penetrate the mentality: "It'll never happen to me", which so many people think both consciously and unconsciously. I was in the car with my father and little brother just this week, and my Dad told my brother - whose seatbelt was uncomfortable - that he could just take it off. I pushed and pushed for him to keep the seatbelt on, but my father's mentality is just that - these things happen to _other_ people; I'm such a good driver, nothing will go wrong.

All I could do for the next hour was think how I would scream at him for being an arrogant ****wit if my brother was injured or worse.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Well, here's a famous example of what *not* to do, namely giving everybody a terminal case of the creeps:


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

This one will probably always be my favorite:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> I work in emotional intelligence and I am always on the look out for examples of where EI is used, even if unwittingly. This film, designed for commercial breaks on tv and intended to encourage people to wear seat belts in cars, throws out of the window all the cliches of showing horrific accidents and telling harrowing tales of shattered lives.


Simply spectacular! Great work, I'd love to shake the hands of the people who made this commercial!
Wow!
I hope there is a similar concept for things like cigarette smoking, driving while impaired by alcohol, etc.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Where's the bacon, toast and home fries? That bad boy looks good enough to eat! :lol:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Fsharpmajor said:


> Well, here's a famous example of what *not* to do, namely giving everybody a terminal case of the creeps:


The first thing that came to mind was dim-wit, but she doesn't deserve that much of a compliment.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Adagio for Strings of commercials, right there.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> I work in emotional intelligence and I am always on the look out for examples of where EI is used . . .





starthrower said:


> The first thing that came to mind was dim-wit, but she doesn't deserve that much of a compliment.


Well - umm . . . she certainly can use the grammatically incorrect "none of us are perfect" confidently and with great aplomb!

See what I did there?


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Polednice said:


> Are these kinds of things statistically more effective?...


No idea. However, there is plenty of evidence in general in favour of the concept that, if you want someone to change their behaviour, you present the postive benefits of the change not the negative consequences - however true they may be.



Almaviva said:


> Simply spectacular! Great work, I'd love to shake the hands of the people who made this commercial!
> Wow!


I think this ad bears some analysis which will probably make it even more impressive. For starters:

(1) the music is in 3/4 - it's a waltz! 
(2) it's interesting to count the beats as you go through: observe where it is cut on the beat and where off the beat
(3) the ad is in three more or less equal parts, as classically structured as Beethoven's _Les adieux _sonata
(4) the whole trajectory of the ad, seen as an artistic statement, moves toward a recreation of the Pietà. Not for nothing is the little girl wearing angel wings.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Great idea, I doubt any other persuasion tactics could work better! It felt a little drawn out though, like it could have been condensed.


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