This billboard is right by my office. My first thought, upon seeing it, was that this ad had managed to pull of direct and passive aggressive at the same time. "Your driving is going to paralyze us but that's cool, hey, ice cream! I went to the site that is also listed on the billboard, Speak Up or Else. It is a site most definitely targeted to teens and young adults, as is the billboard. The site has some sobering videos on it, mostly pictures of deadly car wrecks caused by teens.
There's nothing funny about reckless driving. Sometimes, the only way to get through to people is to show them what will happen if they don't change. Isn't that the entire premise for the show Intervention?
Even though this billboard is in downtown Chicago (okay, fine, the West Loop, neighborhood police), a city that has abundant public transit and cabs, the people seeing this are either driving back to the suburbs or on their way to take the train back to the suburbs. As in, "hey, Johnny, I saw this interesting billboard on my way home from work, let's talk about it."
Ironically, because most people are driving when they see billboards, they are typically not supposed to include more than seven letters (I was an advertising major and these are the kinds of things that stuck with me). This billboard has way more than seven, so let's hope people driving by it get the gist without getting too distracted.
