A Critique of 'Dumb Ways to Die' - Essay Sample

Introduction

Metro Trains’ Dumb Ways to Die goes down as one of the most shared media content in the 21st century, having gone viral and getting shared enthusiastically (Quelch, 2014).. The public safety advertisement was remarkably successful both in and out of Australia. While the ad attracted the attention of many critiques, it was highly effective in meeting its goals. However, many critics have argues that the effectiveness of the campaign cannot be determined for sure because there is inadequate data prior to the creation of the campaign. Without inadequate data, there is no metric to benchmark against. For instance, it is not possible to say that the rate of rail deaths had dropped after the campaign if the rates before the campaign were not known with certainty. Even so, the campaign was wildly successful, going ahead to win awards and to gain phenomenal viewership on such online based platforms as YouTube.

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The Purpose of the Campaign

According to a detailed case study handed over to The Communications Council for the Australian Effie Awards (2013), the campaign aimed to achieve a handful of objectives. First, it sought to increase public engagement and awareness regarding rail safety. Secondly, the campaign sought to generate public relations, creating a buzz and spreading the safety message as quickly as possible. Also, the campaign was designed to invite the public’s commitment to stay safe, a goal that would be measured in 12 months. Lastly, the campaign aimed to reduce accidents and near-misses at all station platforms and level crossings by 10 percent over a period of 12 months. Overall, the message was an awareness creating campaign, but it did not just there; it went ahead to directly engage the members of the public to be a part of the desired change by making a commitment to stay safe (Algie & Mead, 2019). The campaign was designed to talk to those people that did not want to hear any safety messages by adding a tinge of creativity.

Evaluation of Communication Strategy

The campaign adopted a powerful communication strategy by engaging as many platforms as possible, and by bringing the campaign as close to the audience as effectively as possible. The communication strategy was largely reliant on online platforms, especially YouTube, the most famed content sharing website owned by Google. Within the first two weeks, the campaign had hit tens of millions of views. In addition to YouTube, the video had a dedicated Tumblr page where millions of people interact with the message (Quelch, 2014). Besides YouTube and Tumblr, the campaign’s effectiveness could be attributed to its ability to be accessed via apps through the users’ smartphone devices. Apps are much easier to access compared to websites, hence, by introducing the app, the campaign mangers ensured the easiest communication channels to reach the targeted audience.

The communication strategy is also considered highly successful because it was able to engage the audience by enabling them to practically connect their individual experiences. It was evident that, indeed, the people were able to connect the message to their own lives because they created so many copies and parodies (Beavis, 2013). Mimicking a message is one of the most powerful way of connecting to it. The copies and parodies were shared on YouTube and other social media websites such as Facebook. On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other interactive websites, the message went viral (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). The PR part of it was quite effective because even in countries where it had been banned, more curiosity emerged, further expanding the viewership.

Evaluation of the Creative Strategy

In terms of creativity, almost all evaluators and critics agree that the campaign scored excellently. First, it embraces funny characters and suggests some hilarious ways to die. The comic portrayal of the message in the campaign works magically in connecting with the younger members of the public and children. The comic aspect in which the message is presented has made it a popular resource for safety classes in elementary schools, which helps spread safety awareness to people at an early stage in life (Basil, Diaz-Meneses & Basil, 2019). It therefore goes a long way of making safety a cultural aspect.

The creativity of the message, from message, to music to visual aspects is eminent, going by the extent to which the message was shared across the internet, and above all, the far that people went to copy and make parodies. The message is designed in a fashion that creatively appeals to both adults and children. While the video is comic and child-like, the message is a serious one meant for all ages.

Logic and Argument

In terms of logic and argument, the designers of the campaign employ some fallacies. For instance, the fallacy red herring is vivid in the message. This fallacy seeks to divert attention from the main message to somewhat irrelevant areas. For instance, the main message is train safety but the stories and narratives in the ad have nothing to do with train safety. Another fallacy that emerges in the ad is the argumentum ad baculum, one in which the creator of the argument uses some threats to attain the desired goal. For this fallacy, the message is “do this… or else… this will happen to you!” i.e. “Prioritize and commit to safety, or else you will die!”

Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, Dumb Ways to Die was remarkably successful due to its creative and communication strategies. However, it could have performed better than it did if it considered the following recommendations.

The designers could have creatively incorporated a disclaimer that they do not support suicide in any way. It would be important because most of the negative criticism was associated with the assumption that the ad sent suicidal messages to the public.

The ad should have established wider social media presence by the use of instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, through which people interact more intimately.

References

Algie, J., & Mead, N. (2019). Fun Ways to Engage with Rail Safety through the Dumb Ways to Die Social Marketing Campaign. In Social Marketing in Action (pp. 93-110). Springer, Cham.

Basil, D. Z., Diaz-Meneses, G., & Basil, M. D. (2019). Social Marketing in Action (p. 22). Springer Nature Switzerland: Cham, Switzerland.

Beavis, C. (2013). Young people, new media and education: Participation and possibilities. Social alternatives, 32(2), 39.

Quelch, J. (2014). Dumb Ways to Die: Advertising Train Safety (C).

Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. SA