Dora the Ex-Explorer, Elephant and Castle

This is about as an effective an image to use in a road safety campaign for young children as you could wish for. It’s got everything going for it, a familiar character paired with a simple, shocking visual message that’s sure to be left ingrained on children’s minds for years to come. Some may say that this is perhaps a little too much to show young kids…I disagree.

Some of the public safety films I watched when I was a kid have stuck with me even to this day and have no doubt kept me alive. For example I have never, ever attempted to retrieve a lost football from a large electrical substation after seeing the advert which showed one kid doing just that before disappearing in a blinding flash with a scream before the camera settled on his smouldering anorak lying on the ground. Nor have I ever really been able to fully enjoy walking barefoot on a beach without my damned brain recalling the horrible advert that featured in the foreground a jagged broken bottle protruding from the sand as a barefoot, innocent young twerp ran ever nearer to it. It was painful to watch, we the audience knew exactly what was going to happen but were powerless to prevent it. “Watch out for the broken bottle!” we’d yell, knowing that it was already too late to save him. It still haunts me to this day. How many broken bottle injuries on the beach were there to justify the advert? Was it worth psychologically scarring countless children out of ever enjoying the beach again? It all seemed to be a little gruesome for what was essentially an anti litter advert, still I’ve never stood on a broken bottle at the beach and for that I suppose I must be thankful.

You can see the full terrifying ad HERE .

Spotted by Sam Thompson