I was asked by Ad Council to review a new set of PSAs they created to curb reckless driving among teenagers. I showed them to the students in my public speaking class - we've been discussing appeals used in advertisements (logical, emotional, ethical) so it seemed a perfect opportunity.
The Naive Teacher went in thinking because I found them profoundly amusing and therefore immensely effective, my teen students would as well; Realistic Teacher made a quick adjustment after the smarties I trained took the videos apart - logically the kids in the commercials don't physically match them & their friends; emotionally they're funny but a little on the weird side [absurdity is more humorous to adults, obviously]; ethically they do speak to teenagers when warning about speeding, but teen drivers generally don't worry as much about lack of attention to the road.
In the end, despite their critical observations, my students did feel like these videos were better than anything else they've seen aimed at them as drivers. And that is a step in the right direction.
