A CANNY combination of wordplay and shock value is the strategy used for the Traffic Police's (TP) latest campaign against drink driving.
The publicity blitz, which will run through Chinese New Year, puns on alcohol-related terms.
As conceived in collaboration with Agi Communications, the ad agency TP hired, it includes shocking posters like one of a woman covered in blood, entitled Bloody Mary.
She represents a possible drink driver, hence the wordplay on "BloodyMary", the familiar tomato juice-based cocktail.
The commanding officer of TP's road-safety branch, deputy superintendent Simon Ng, told my paper: "The shock element of the campaign is intentional.
"The girl covered in blood at an accident scene is meant to shock the public into not forgetting the danger and harmfulness of drink driving."
Another example: The idiom, One For The Road, refers to a drink before a journey. But the poster shows the signboard TP uses to canvass for witnesses after accidents - and refers to a new road-accident victim.
Posters will go up in tertiary institutions, entertainment outlets, bus stops, taxis, carpark barriers and 250 lamp posts. There will also be newspaper, cinema, TV and radio advertisements.
TP have even come up with a computer game that promotes responsible driving, at http:// test.viwawa.com/tp_game _ddnd/play
The TP nabbed 3,319 drink drivers between January and November, a dip of 322 cases from the same period last year.
