Over the past month my favorite radio station has been playing a series of commercials by the WSIB (Workplace Safety & Information Board). These commercials depict an accident, where someone is horribly injured and then they talk about how these type of accidents could be prevented. Usually by the injured person saying that it "is no accident" and that "it could have been prevented"
I applaud the WSIB for making workplace safety concerns available to the general public as it is something everyone should be concerned about, and not just people in high risk professions. I do wonder about the way they have chosen to make that message heard. Is this type of commercial really making people more aware or just causing them to shut off when they hear it?
In the first commercial i heard metal rending flesh, and i was sickened. In the second I was blessed to hear heavy machinery crushing bone, while the actor grunted in agony. . .
When did informing the average person at any cost become an acceptable way to get your message heard? Whatever happened to that imaginary line that was supposed to stop this kind of scare tactic?
Now don't get me wrong, I admit that there is a need for employees to be better aware of their rights on the job and what they can do if they feel that their rights and safety are being sacrificed. I just don't find that this kind of campaign is going to help make me work harder at finding out what my rights are.
1 comments:
The CRTC regulates that no commercial that is attempting to sell a product may use fear to that end.
But I don't think it's a scare tactic. It's not presented in an alarmist or terrifying sense. They're not saying "be safe or you'll die!" They're saying, "When these things happen, most of the time it's not an accident. Know your rights and protect yourself."
The imagery they use may be grotesque, but have you seen the cigarette packages? As a former smoker I can tell you that those were a treat on a regular basis.
Besides, I think these adds are laudable, and that we should have more like them. The imagery doesn't bother me because it is the right way to make the point they're trying to make. I congratulate the government on this initiative.
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