Investigation of audience perceptions of Transport Accident Commission road safety advertising

The perceptions of the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) road safety public education program held by 90 drivers were investigated. Participants provided ratings of the general approach used by the TAC, their recollection of how they had responded to selected TAC advertisements in the past, and their responses to TAC advertisements viewed during the assessment session. The results indicated that the participants were generally positive towards the TAC program, that their perceptions or attitudes were largely driven by the style of advertising (emotive vs. enforcement), and that advertisements judged to be effective tended to be rated as strongly emotive and highly informative or original. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future development of new advertisements and for future research in this area. (a)