THINK! 50th Anniversary Drink Drive Campaign

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first drink drive publicity campaign, THINK! has produced a new advert to recognise the progress that’s been made, while reminding people that the dangers of drink driving are still as real as they have always been.

New research from THINK!, commissioned on the 50th anniversary, shows how much attitudes towards drink driving have changed in the last half century.

In a survey of 2,000 people, 91% of respondents agreed drink driving is unacceptable and 92% said they would feel ashamed if they were caught drinking and driving.

By comparison, back in 1979 more than half of male drivers and nearly two thirds of young male drivers admitted drink driving on a weekly basis.

The shift in attitudes is a stark contrast to the first drink drive public information film in 1964, which was set in an office Christmas party. The advert politely reminded people that “four single whiskeys and the risk of accident can be twice as great… If he’s been drinking, don’t let him drive.”

In the recent THINK! survey, 88% of respondents said that they would think badly of someone who drinks and drives and almost half (45%) said they would prefer to tell their partner they watch pornography than confess to being caught drink driving.

The new ad juxtaposes Kool and the Gang’s cheery ‘Celebration’ song with a dramatic crash scene and the sequence of events that follow, reminding people that there are still too many people being killed on our roads by drink drivers.