AdNews' Judge & Jury takes a look at suspected foul play in advertising.
Opening address
In 2012, McCann’s ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ launched as an Australian public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains Melbourne to promote rail safety. The animated campaign, which saw 21 characters killing them– selves in different ways, has been viewed more than 128 million times and won copious awards globally.
Verdict
Enter RoadWave, the NRMA’s road rage spot, which uses Beavis and Butt-Head–style animation to bring awareness to safe driving. The clip has been likened to a road rage version of the ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ clips. But, there’s a difference of 127,998,143 views...
Sentence
This judge understands what the NRMA was trying to do here, but unfortunately they didn’t quite hit the viral status McCann’s creative achieved. While the creative agency said it didn’t take inspiration from ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ there are undeniable similarities. Would RoadWave stop this judge from flipping the bird at someone in a car? Probably not.
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