Who are the traffic accident ads targeting?

The Christmas holidays are a good time for awareness campaigns. For weeks now, we've been bombarded, day in and day out, with advertisements for The news you don't want to hear From the Catalan Traffic Service, family members of real victims and officers of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) recount the tragic moment when someone is informed that a loved one has died in an accident. There are several similar stories, narrating the events from the moment the doorbell rings to the shock of learning the tragedy. Recently, another video was added in which a mother says goodbye to her daughter, asking if she'll be waiting for her for lunch. Foreshadowing what will happen, instead of giving a predictable answer, her absence is revealed: "No, Mom. I'm sorry. On my way to work, I'm going to overtake someone, and a car won't see me. I'll die on the way to the hospital." Then we hear the sound of the vehicles colliding and see the mother's devastated face.

These are public service announcements to raise awareness of the importance of safety, prevention, and caution, aiming to reduce the number of road accidents. Logically, all of us who drive or travel by car are susceptible to having an accident, even if we scrupulously follow the rules. Anyone can be careless, fail to react to an unexpected situation, make a bad decision, be the victim of someone else's recklessness, or simply have bad luck. However, these harsh campaigns are hard to stomach when you suddenly encounter the ad right in front of you. There's no data on the effectiveness of these types of campaigns, and in fact, it will be impossible to quantify them. If they save even one life, then they're worth doing.

The question is, who are these ads really targeting? It seems there might be a disconnect between the campaign's intended audience and its actual recipients. This advertising assumes that exposing the audience to an extreme story has a deterrent effect, but studies in psychology and communication indicate that these emotionally shocking messages tend to reinforce existing behaviors rather than modify problematic ones. For people with reckless, aggressive, or dangerous driving habits, these kinds of stories don't usually erode their sense of control. There are personalities for whom tragic narratives simply don't work, while for responsible and prudent people, aware of the risks and fragility of life, the catastrophic scenario can be devastating because it reactivates their fears and anxieties. It's inevitable to wonder whether these ads work better as impactful narrative material than as genuine tools for transforming driving behavior. Because you get the feeling that these campaigns often confuse awareness with shock tactics.