New Australian Anti-Speeding Campaign Hits Below the Belt

[RJF]

New Australian Anti-Speeding Campaign Hits Below the Belt

Monday , June 25, 2007

A new road safety campaign is hitting Australia's young male speeders where it hurts — their ego.

The latest TV campaign to encourage drivers to respect speed limits features attractive young women wiggling their little fingers at passing speedsters — a taunting gesture in Australia's youth culture that means a guy has a small penis.

The new, below-the-belt ad campaign was spearheaded by the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, which claims speeding doesn't make you a big man.

“To me the gesture says ’speeding — no one thinks big of you.” the authority’s spokesman, John Whelan, told the Times of London. “It will cause people who are speeding to think twice about the image they are creating.”

The young women featured in the ads, however, appear to know exactly what message they're sending, and the young speeders in the ads who notice the gesture appear embarrassed.

Whelan defended the campaign, saying it was a way to get through to young people who have a serious shortcoming — they have not responded to traditional anti-speeding campaigns.

“This gesture to which we’re referring is part of everyday language and part of our culture. So to align that message to our anti-speeding message, I think is going to have an impact,” Whelan said.

The campaign, which shows women of all ages — including the elderly — making the pinkie gesture, also will include television, movie theater and bus posters. There will also be a 15-second viral Internet ad that will offer speedsters an “xtra xtra small” condom.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety...ml?hhid=pinkie