The Cars Kill Road Safety Television Commercial - Its Evaluation and Adaptation for Cinema Screening - Research Findings

DescriptionThe Scottish Road Safety Campaign (SRSC) launched a nationwide television commercial entitled "Cars Kill" in 1993. This is an evaluation on that campaign.
ISBN
Official Print Publication Date
Website Publication DateDecember 29, 1998
Environment Research Programme Research Findings No. 5 (1995)
The "Cars Kill" road safety television commercial - its evaluation and adaptation for cinema screening

FIONA MURRAY

Publisher The Scottish Officeprice £5.00
The Scottish Road Safety Campaign (SRSC) launched a nationwide television commercial entitled "Cars Kill" in 1993. The commercial was aimed specifically at children aged 8-15 years and was designed to alert this audience to the potential dangers of residential roads. It was screened on Scottish, Grampian and Border television regions for a number of 4 week periods throughout 1993 and 1994. "Cars kill" was also adapted for showing at the cinema and it was screened prior to the Walt Disney Film "The Lion King" at a number of cinemas throughout Scotland in October and November 1994.
The effectiveness of the "cars kill" commercial in achieving its aims was evaluated by a research project in 1993 and a further study was commissioned in 1994 to evaluate its use in cinema.
Main findings
  • Forty-five percent of the children surveyed in the TV evaluation study admitted that they worried about crossing busy roads unaccompanied.
  • The most frequently mentioned specific worries quoted by these children were the fear of being knocked down and hurt, vehicles coming too fast, too many cars and not being able to see cars/cars coming from nowhere.
  • There was a high level of awareness of the "cars kill" TV commercial amongst those questioned. Sixty two percent of respondents spontaneously recalled the commercial and 99% recalled it when prompted.
  • The sample of children from the target group showed a good understanding of the message of "cars kill". Over three fifths could identify the main messages of the commercial.
  • Awareness of "cars kill" amongst the target group was shown to decay during the 3 months after the campaign. Only 43% of respondents spontaneously recalled the commercial, although prompted awareness remained high at 97%.
  • There was a high level of awareness of "cars kill" amongst cinema goers. Eighty percent of respondents recalled the commercial; this was higher than the recall rate for other commercials shown at the same film screening.
  • The majority of respondents in the cinema evaluation study clearly understood the message of "cars kill".
Evaluation of"Cars Kill"
The commercial
"Cars Kill" was designed to alert the 8 to 15 year age group of the potential dangers of residential roads. The action involved a young boy walking along the pavement next to a quiet road whilst playing a hand held computer game. The boy goes to cross the road and a car rises out of the road surface and hits the boy. The final scene is of the boy lying in the road, the words "game over" appear on the computer screen and the "Look Out - Cars Kill" slogan appears at the end.
The commercial was first shown in June 1993 and has subsequently been screened for a number of 4 week periods.
Methodology and objectives
The evaluation of the televised "cars kill" commercial involved a 2 stage study. The first stage entailed interviewing a sample of children shortly after the period in which the commercial was shown. The second stage involved interviewing a further different sample 3 months later. This stage was designed to measure the decay in awareness of the commercial.
Approximately 800 children between the ages of 8 and 15 years living throughout Scotland were interviewed at each stage. The structured interviews were conducted in the children's homes by experienced Market Researchers.
The specific objectives of the research were:-
  • to establish children's perceptions of risk related to crossing roads.
  • to test the awareness of the "cars kill" advert amongst the target group.
  • to establish awareness levels for other
  • television campaigns on road safety.
  • to establish attitudes towards the "cars kill" commercial.
  • to measure the decay in awareness of "cars kill" and compare the impact of this commercial with previous TV road safety commercials.
Results
Some of the results of the 2 stages of interviewing in 1993 were compared with those from an earlier (1991) study which had evaluated Scottish Road Safety Year 1990 and in order to detect any changes in attitude regarding road safety.
General concern about road safety
The sample of children were asked if they ever worried about crossing busy roads unaccompanied. Forty five percent in the stage 1 survey said this was a concern, whilst 41% said so in stage 2.
Figure 1
% who worry about crossing busy roads
unaccompanied by age (stage 1 results)
Figure 1 % who worry about crossing busy roads unaccompanied by age (stage 1 results)
Girls were more likely to worry than boys and age had an important influence on responses.
More specifically fear of being knocked down or hurt, vehicles coming too fast, too many cars and not being able to see cars/cars coming out of nowhere were the most frequently mentioned concerns.
These concerns were comparable with those stated in the 1991 Survey with the exception of the one relating to 'not being able to see cars/cars coming out of nowhere', which had not been mentioned at all. This finding implied a shift in attitude amongst the age group with a greater identification of their own role and responsibility for being more careful on the road.
Respondents were also asked which type of roads they thought were the safest and most dangerous for people to cross. They were shown photos of 3 road types: a busy urban street, a quiet residential road and a busy main road/dual carriageway. In both stages of the survey the residential road was regarded as the safest to cross by the majority of children.
Television advertising awareness and recall
Initially the children were asked whether or not they had seen any commercials for road safety on television. A number of different campaigns had been run during the previous year and these are listed in Table 1. Eighty seven percent at Stage 1 and 84% at Stage 2 said that they had done so. This is higher than in the 1991 study when only 74% recalled seeing road safety commercials on television.
Those respondents who claimed to have seen road safety material were then asked to describe it in order to identify the relevant commercial. The results are given in Table 1.
Table 1
Spontaneous recall of road safety commercials

stage 1

stage 2

Cars kill

62%

43%

20:30:40:Parents

9%

25%

Gravestone

12%

10%

Johnny

12%

11%

Andy

2%

1%

Camilla

*

2%

20:30:40:Hospital

-

14%

Cycle Ad

8%

3%

Other

10%

7%

Don't know

9%

10%

(N = 807)

(N =798)

* Greater than 0 but less than 1%.
(The 20:30:40 Hospital commercial was launched after Stage 1 of interviewing.)
When respondents were prompted using telepics of the recent advertising campaigns awareness levels rose significantly.
Recall of "cars kill" increased to 99% and 97% for Stage 1 and Stage 2 respectively.
Figure 2
Prompted Recall of Road Safety Advertising on TV in Last Year.
Figure 2 Prompted Recall of Road Safety Advertising on TV in Last Year
Recall of the message
The research showed that there was a good understanding of the messages of "cars kill". Over 60% of respondents in Stage 2 could describe what had happened in the commercial. Two fifths were aware that the character in the commercial had not been paying attention and specific messages attributed to the commercial by respondents included:-
  • should look and listen and follow Highway Code
  • pay attention
  • look before crossing
  • do not play games.
  • Recall of the slogan used in the commercial showed some decay over the 3 month period. Fifty six percent of respondents recalling a slogan at Stage 1 but only 44% at Stage 2.
Attitudes to the "Cars Kill" advert
In order to gauge attitudes towards "cars kill" respondents were asked to agree or disagree with a number of statements. The results are given in Figure 3.
There was no evidence of any significant change in attitudes to the advertising over time.
The level of agreement with certain statements suggests that the advertisement had an impact which was sustained over time.
  • 88% at Stage 2 agreeing "it will make me think more about crossing the road".
  • 79% stating "I pay attention when its on".
  • Only 10% agreeing that they could "only
  • remember the bit at the end".
Overall, the advertisement communicated a message effectively and positively with 97% confirming one of the messages as being that "cars come out of nowhere" and only 7% at Stage 2 stating that they didn't really know what it was telling them.
Figure 3
Attitude to the "Cars Kill Advert Stage 1 and Stage 2 responses
Figure 3 Attitude to the Cars Kill Advert stage 1 and stage 2 responses
Evaluation of the cinema screening of "Cars Kill"
The "cars kill" commercial was shown at a number of cinemas throughout Scotland prior to the Walt Disney film "The Lion King" from 14 October to 10 November 1994. The Scottish Road Safety Campaign had not used cinema advertising as a medium for road safety campaigns before and were therefore keen to evaluate its effectiveness.
Methodology and objectives
A self completion questionnaire was handed out to children in the 8-15 age group immediately after performances of "The Lion King" at cinemas in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. A total of 8,773 questionnaires were handed out and 646 were completed and returned, representing a 7.4% response rate. Of those who returned the questionnaires 63% were girls, 37% boys and most (87%) were aged 12 years or under.
The specific objectives of the research were:
  • To measure the level of awareness of the "cars kill" commercial amongst 8 to 15 year olds who attended showings of the Lion King.
  • To compare the recall of the "cars kill" commercial with the recall of other commercials shown prior to the film.
  • To establish the attitudes of the target audience towards the "cars kill" cinema commercial.
  • To compare the impact of cinema advertising with television advertising in respect of "cars kill".
Results
Recall of cinema advertising
The "cars kill" commercial was shown alongside a number of other commercials for various products. Respondents were asked to tick the box for each commercial they remembered seeing prior to the film "The Lion King". As figure 4 shows the road safety entry was remembered by the greatest proportion of children.
Figure 4
Recall of advertisements shown before film.
Figure 4 Recall of advertisements shown before film
Recall of the message
Those individuals who remembered seeing a road safety commercial at the cinema were then asked to write down what they remembered happening in the advert and what the advert was telling them. The majority could describe the action in the advert and nearly half of the respondents said that the message of the advert was to 'pay attention when crossing the road'. The next most popular answers were 'look both ways before crossing' and 'keep looking and listening'.
Respondents were also asked to recall the slogan used in the advert. Seventy five percent could remember some type of slogan; "Game Over" was given by 27% and "cars come out of nowhere" by 24%. Only 8% of respondents recalled the slogan "Look Out - Cars Kill" which appears at the end of the commercial.
Awareness levels of the advert by cinema goers would have been affected by the fact that respondents would also have seen the advert on television. However other adverts shown at the cinema would also appear on television and despite this "cars kill" was recalled by the highest number of respondents.
Attitudes to the "Cars Kill" advert
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with a number of statements relating to "cars kill". The statements were the same as those used in the earlier evaluation of the TV showing of "cars kill". The results of both surveys are given in Figure 5.
On the whole the results of this question for both evaluation studies are comparable. High levels of agreement with 'it will make me think about crossing the road', 'I pay attention when its on' and disagreement with 'I don't really know what they are telling me' suggest a level of impact of the advert at the cinema similar with the TV showing.
Figure 5
Attitudes to the "Cars Kill Advert and TV and Cinema Evaluations
Fig 5 Attitudes to the Cars Kill Advert and TV and Cinema Evaluations
Conclusions
Awareness of "cars kill" commercial was very high amongst all those surveyed in both studies. In the first evaluation relating to the TV version there was a modest decline in spontaneous awareness of the advert over time, but prompted recall rates remained high.
The attitudes expressed by respondents towards "cars kill" suggest that the advert had a significant impact amongst the target audience. Recall of the messages and understanding of these messages was shown to be high in both studies.
Overall the "cars kill" advert can be considered a success both in terms of reaching its target audience and in conveying the intended messages. The extension to use cinema as a medium for the advert has been effective.
Copies of the full reports "An Evaluation of 'Cars Kill' Television Commercial and "An Evaluation of 'Cars Kill' Commercial Shown in Cinemas" are available priced £5.00.
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