Advertisement Category
The advertisement by Metro Trains Dumb Ways to Die can be categorized as an institutional advertisement. This category of advertising aims to create an image and establish the social significance of a company or organization rather than promoting a specific product or service (Algie & Mead, 2019). In this case, the ad aims to draw attention to metro safety and highlight the importance of following rules to prevent accidents.
Intended Target Audience
The advertisement by Metro Trains Dumb Ways to Die is intended for a general audience, focusing on youth and teenagers. It appeals to people between 15 and 30 who have an active lifestyle and often use public transport, including subway trains (Algie & Mead, 2019). The target audience is interested in contemporary music, fashion, and social media.
Advertiser Appeal
The ad grabs attention with its cartoonish style and infectious music, making it appealing to that audience. In addition, young people and teenagers actively use the Internet and social networks, so advertising has been distributed through video hosting and social media to be easily accessible, discussed, and widely distributed. In this case, the appeal used by the advertiser is rather emotional. The ad captures attention by using the headline Dumb Ways to Die, which generates negative emotions and interest in the target audience (Algie & Mead, 2019). The headline makes people think about possible dangers, creating a need for caution and safety.
Effectiveness of the Advertisement
The effectiveness of this advertising can be assessed as high. It attracts attention and arouses interest among the target audience, and the further content of the ad conveys an essential message about the need to comply with safety rules in the subway. The use of negative emotions helps to create a strong effect and recall of advertising, which helps to increase passengers’ awareness about possible dangers and, as a result, can help prevent accidents.
The company that created this ad did a good job of effectively reaching out to its target audience. They used an emotional approach to attract attention, elicit a reaction, and convey an important safety message on the subway. The advertisement was memorable and could help raise passenger awareness of potential dangers.
Reference
Algie, J., & Mead, N. (2019). Fun ways to engage with rail safety through the dumb ways to die social marketing campaign. In D. Z. Basil, G. Diaz-Meneses, M. D. Basil (Eds.) Social marketing in Action: Cases from around the world (pp. 93-110). Springer.