Speed Ills! Reckless Driving on the Rise in Car Ads, Study Shows - Streetsblog USA

"In a review of hundreds of car ads aired in 2018, 2020 and 2022, the Insurance Industry for Highway Safety found that 43 percent of the ads emphasized speed or speeding; maneuverability; power; stopping; or traction. In the subset of these "performance ads," 16 percent included speed or speeding and 28 percent emphasized traction. By comparison, only 8 percent of all ads highlighted safety."

"And even though "traction" might sound innocuous, only one of 10 of those "traction" ads were also categorized as a "safety" ad, meaning the car's allegedly great traction was not mentioned to demonstrate its capability for avoiding a crash, but, instead, to depict or evoke vehicles "kicking up clouds of dust on remote dirt tracks, zooming down the beach or rumbling over boulders in the mountains," the report states."

"IIHS President David Harkey acknowledged that the ads all have fine print reminding viewers that the action is confined to a closed course with a professional driver, "but the message they convey is that you can drive this way too. "Showing a stunt driver zooming around a tight turn in the rain might seem harmless, but these ads reinforce our cultural obsession with speed," he added."

"IIHS Research Scientist Amber Woods, the lead author of the study, pointed out that TV and social media tend to normalize fringe behavior like reckless driving. "Advertising like this has helped normalize speeding, masking how dangerous it is," Woods said. "Just think about how different attitudes are toward speeding versus impaireddriving. "The vast majority of viewers are never going to take their vehicle through a mountain stream or up a sand dune, but this kind of ad could influence the way"

A review of hundreds of car ads aired in 2018, 2020, and 2022 found that 43% emphasized speed or speeding, maneuverability, power, stopping, or traction. Within these performance ads, 16% included speed or speeding and 28% emphasized traction. Only 8% of all ads highlighted safety. Most traction ads did not frame traction as a safety feature for avoiding crashes. Instead, traction was used to depict or evoke vehicles driving on remote dirt tracks, beaches, or mountains. Fine print may limit stunts to closed courses with professional drivers, but the overall message suggests viewers can drive similarly. Such advertising can normalize reckless driving and mask how dangerous speeding is.

Read at Streetsblog USA