MASON CITY, Iowa – Distracted driving is one of the biggest causes of deadly crashes in the U.S. and because of this, organizations have been coming out with ways to raise awareness about the issue.
Out of all of the efforts out right now, not many have been as shocking as a new movie theatre advertisement from Volkswagen.
The ad begins by a driver turning on their car, turning up their radio, and hitting the open road.
Officials with one movie theatre tapped into a network that would send a text message to all movie goers watching the ad and just as the text was send, and opened by many, the car in the ad crashes head on into a tree.
It’s a shocking display about how quickly a situation can change, but it’s something mom Wendy Wolfe says she’s happy to see.
“More and more people are texting, and of all ages not just teenagers but adults as well, and they’re just as susceptible the more we rely on technology,” Wolfe says.
Wolfe was at the movies with her kids on Sunday.
While they didn’t see this exact Volkswagen ad, there are others out there that send the same message.
She says that even though some of them are graphic and frightening, the ads are important and will hopefully help in getting people to put their phones down when they get into their cars.
She’s not the only person who is a fan of these frightening ads; Paige Holt, a supervisor at Cinema West in Mason City, is one of the people in charge of playing these ads before the show.
Holt believes that the meaning of these advertisements is important, and says she hopes advertising agencies will continue to come out with new and creative ways of driving this message home.
“It’s nice to start young,” she says, referring to the wide range of audiences they see at Cinema West, “so when they’re able to drive, they don’t text and drive.”
Taking these ads seriously will not only help keep yourself on the road, but other drivers as well, which is important since the centers for disease control (CDC) reports that on average, more than 9 people are killed every day in the U.S. from distracted drivers.
The CDC says that not only does being on your phone take your eyes off the road, but your hands and your mind as well.
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