ECUADOR

The Salamati campaign was launched in April 2010. It was a comprehensive road safety campaign which incorporated various components to achieve its aims, including publicity and law enforcement activities (Public Security Directorate, 2010). The initiative embraced many objectives, such as reducing traffic offences as a way of enhancing road safety; creating and fostering mutually cooperative relationships between the police and the target audience; educating the public on how the new traffic management system dubbed ‘Saher’ worked; increasing the visibility of traffic law enforcement; and raising awareness of the need for individuals to take responsibility for road safety (Public Security Directorate, 2010). The law enforcement part of the campaign was subject to the collaboration of traffic, highway and patrol police. The awareness dimension of the campaign followed four stages with each stage run for a month. There were two-month breaks between stages to avoid information redundancy and to ensure the campaign’s effectiveness (Public Security Directorate, 2010).

5.3.1. Identification of Target Behaviour and Target Audience for the Campaign

In view of the major causes of road accidents in Saudi Arabia, the Salamati campaign addressed a set of problems to promote safe driving. Thus, speeding, failure to wear seatbelts, driving while fatigued, and violation of pedestrian and vehicle safety regulations were the core aspects of the campaign. In addition, Salamati sought to draw the public’s attention to numerous violations of the traffic law, such as driving through red lights, improper overtaking, driving on the wrong side of the road, alighting from moving vehicles, making

illegal turns, driving without a license or number plate, and losing concentration/falling asleep while driving (Public Security Directorate, 2010).

5.3.2. Message

The Salamati campaign involved three speeding advertisements, two pedestrian advertisements, three advertisements about tyre safety, and advertisements on national security. The present research focuses only a detailed review of a single advertisement to produce an understanding of the campaign. The 33-second commercial starts with a scene displaying a bird’s eye view of a busy eight-lane highway with vehicles moving in all directions. It fades into a medium shot of the instrument panel of a single car as it speeds along the highway. This scene is interrupted by a cutaway shot of a speeding toy car in a video game. For the next few seconds, these two shots alternate through the crosscutting technique, with the use of reverse angle shots to compare the two scenes. This also suggests the use of parallel editing (or an inter-cutting technique).

The maximum position of the speed needle in both shots and the fast pan of the camera creating the illusion of vegetation and roads ‘flying past’ suggest that both the real car on the highway and the toy car in the video game are moving at extremely high speeds. Eventually, the toy car in the video game loses control as it races to catch up with another one ahead of it, hits an embankment by the side of the road, and rolls over. A close-up shot of the boy behind the wheel of the video game car is revealed, as the two shots are brought together and juxtaposed on the same screen, using the parallel editing technique followed by the words: ‘Car’s not a toy.’

Figure 5.3. Image from the Salamati commercial. Note the use of parallel editing with the

This TV commercial was only one in a series used by the Salamati campaign to deliver its message. Each campaign stage explored five traffic themes and one security theme. Thus, the first stage of the campaign touched upon speeding, violation of traffic light rules, roundabouts rules, seatbelts rules, and pedestrian safety rules. In addition to traffic issues, it dealt with security related to alighting from a moving vehicle and the practice of leaving valuables in one’s vehicle and thus, exposing them to the risk of being stolen (Public Security Directorate, 2010). The second-stage message revolved around vehicle safety, distractions experienced by drivers, tyre safety, fatigue and overtaking skills along with security around the home (Public Security Directorate, 2010).

The third and penultimate stage raised issues of not complying with traffic signs, driving without a driver’s license, driving on the wrong side of the road, abrupt stopping on the road and driving by young people. The security topic in this stage stressed the need for members of the target audience to be responsible and patriotic citizens (Public Security Directorate, 2010). The fourth stage focused on overloading, safe driving techniques during bad weather, the space required between vehicles, illegal U-turning, and dangerous driving without a number plate. The main security topic revolved around the primary policing role of the citizen (Public Security Directorate, 2010).

5.3.3. The Use of Theoretical Models in Underpinning the Conceptual Design of the Campaign Messages

In the context of the above commercial, it is possible to claim that the Salamati campaign echoed the No Extra Life campaign in Sweden. The common ground between the two is the use of a metaphor based on the video game concept to deliver messages to the public. Both campaigns used a video-game racing car to highlight the severe outcomes of inadequate and dangerous driving in the real world (Dieveveen, 2013). The absence of an oral narrative in the Salamati commercial replaced the parallel editing technique to illustrate the metaphor. The scene in which the toy car in the racing game is juxtaposed against a real car, thus bringing into a sharp focus the similarities and a stark contrast between the real and virtual worlds, requires no verbal accompaniment. Contrasting car crashes in the game and real life, the advertisement invites the audience to understand the desired meaning. The absence of text is compensated for using strong visual images and techniques. Though the commercial neglects the artistic use of light and shadow to create a certain mood and characterisation, it uses light to increase visibility of its images. Despite some weaknesses, it is possible to claim

that this commercial is a clean break from the cognitively stale Saudi road safety messages of yesteryear that were based on coercive or simplistic and condescending appeals.

When analysing the Salamati campaign, it is relevant to consider its multidimensional approach. The campaign pointed out that road accidents occur in Saudi Arabia because of human, road, vehicular and environmental factors (Mansuri et al., 2015). Though human factors are the key causes of road accidents (98%), transportation planning and traffic safety policing play a role as well (Islam & Hadhrami, 2012). Along with traffic problems, Saudi Arabia has an urgent need to deal with its domestic security issues that remain acute because of the state’s rich oil and gas resources and the proximity of Arab militant groups (OSAC, 2015).

Hence, the twofold approach of the Salamati campaign to raise public awareness about road safety and national security was beneficial. It raised concerns about two major problems of the country and the combination of two topics prevented information redundancy. However, the multidimensional approach had its weaknesses as well. The key message that speeding was the key cause of fatal car crashes – was dispersed among many other issues. As a result, the Salamati message lacked power and relevance. Because it dealt with several issues Salamati was unable to deliver a unified message. Hence, to achieve success, Salamati required the adoption of an integrated communication strategy to create a complex but concise message to address all those issues (Percy, 2014).

Through analysis of the campaign planning and execution, the presence of Aristotelian rhetoric concepts becomes evident. The concept of pathos is recognised as a powerful persuasive tool, especially within low elaboration advertising. It entails the use of physical cues to create a certain frame of mind to encourage the audience into agreement with the message (Berger, 2013). In advertising, pathos is achieved using attractive male and female characters in public campaigns and media commercials, including some already discussed in this thesis. The Aristotelian concepts of ethos and logos are also applicable in modern advertising. Through logos and ethos techniques, public campaigns use celebrities as models, thereby persuading through the process of identification. Campaigns can also engage experts, who persuade through the process of internalisation (Berger, 2013).

In the Salamati campaign, the key model for communication was the Saudi police. In each of the four stages, the police appeared in the media to raise public awareness. They were

involved in the design of the campaign’s message in the local newspapers, and visited educational institutions to talk to students and distribute campaign material (Public Security Directorate, 2010). The dominance of the police was accompanied by the persistent use of logos of driving and safety lessons and this produced the strong educational tone of the campaign. The absence of other sources of information and role models reinforced the authoritarian image due to the police presence. Hence, the public perceived the campaign as a set of instructions from the government and the police rather than an appeal for collaborative action.

The dominance of the police led to another limitation. The TV commercial used in the Salamati campaign presented its road safety message through the peripheral route as advocated in the elaboration likelihood model (Nevid, 2011). However, other elements of Salamati relied on higher-order cognitive and logical processes based on driving and safety lessons prepared by police officers. In Saudi Arabia, where most of the population lacks basic literacy skills, a public campaign requiring logical reasoning and analytical skills was doomed to failure. Since most of the campaign’s messages were fashioned by the police, with no background in communication skills, the content of the message remained predominantly unrecognised by the public. While an extensive use of coercive law enforcement activities contributed to the success of this RSC, its coercive tactics aroused resistance among the target audience.

In the context of the theory of behaviour modification, these coercive tactics equated to negative reinforcement, which enforced compliance as long as they were in place, but resulted in drivers’ subsequent return to bad driving practices upon the withdrawal of enforcement pressures (Bellack, Hersen, & Kazdin, 2012). In other words, during the campaign, there was a high adherence to the traffic law, but violations emerged immediately after the campaign ended. To transform the short-term effect of road safety campaigns in Saudi Arabia, it is essential to use disruptive approaches based on proven theoretical models adopted by advertising campaigns in developed countries. In fact, an approach based the S-R (stimulus-response) theory of positive reinforcement of Skinner (1953) is likely to be more applicable and effective (Bellack, Hersen, & Kazdin, 2012). In addition, one may recommend using English instead of Arabic in road safety TV commercials to reach non-immigrants, who constitute a large portion of the Saudi population and are involved in numerous car accidents in the country.

5.3.4. Audience Segmentation and Targeting

Like the Enough campaign, Salamati targeted the general population to increase its awareness of road safety and national security. As a whole, the campaign delivered 20 road safety messages and four security-related messages during its four stages (Public Security Directorate, 2010). As a mass appeal campaign, it made an attempt to attract the attention of youth who are considered to be the highest-risk group. Using the metaphor of video game racing, the campaign sought to reach young male drivers who were violating speed limits on Saudi roads.

5.3.5. Choice of Media Channels

The main channels used to deliver the core message of Salamati were local newspapers and television. They seemed the most appropriate for reaching a mass audience as they were the major sources of information for the targeted audience. In addition, the message was presented through printed material distributed to schools and other educational institutions by the police. Driving schools also utilised the campaign materials to create a strong awareness among future drivers of the need to adhere to traffic laws (Public Security Directorate, 2010).

5.3.6. Evaluation of Campaign Effectiveness

From the very onset, the responsibility for evaluating Salamati was given to the Centre of Research and Studies, Public Security Directorate. An assessment of the campaign’s effectiveness took place after each stage, with the final assessment being made after the campaign’s completion. The evaluation occurred through comparing trends in the number of accidents, injuries, traffic violations and fatalities before, during, and after the campaign (Public Security Directorate, 2011). These statistics are presented in Table 5.2 below:

Table 5.2

Accident Statistics Relating to All Stages of the Salamati Campaign (four-month implementation)

Period Car

accidents

Death Injuries Violations

Before the campaign 103,804 2,718 12,604 2,285,091

During the campaign 105,449 3,015 11,268 2,925,178

After the campaign 150,857 5,583 10,121 2,811,579

Total 360,110 11,316 33,993 8,021,841

Source: Public Security Directorate (2010).

Weather and seasonal differences affected the numbers of violations, accidents, injuries and deaths, such as the back-to-school season. A small decrease in injury numbers probably did not result from the public relations side of the campaign. Because of the campaign’s focus on law enforcement rather than messages in the media, there was little effect. Another contributing factor to the campaign’s ineffectiveness might have been its execution along with the implementation of the SAHER camera systems to control adherence to traffic lights. In addition, the engagement of office workers in the fieldwork raises a concern over eligibility of their performance there. With no official power to issue tickets, these employees might have damaged the public trust in the police.

Based on the data presented in Table 5.2 above, this analysis concludes that the number of car accidents increased from 103,804 to 150,857 (a 45.3% increase), and death rates increased from 2,718 to 5,583 persons (a 105.4% increase). Injuries declined from 12,604 to 10,121 (a 19.7% reduction), while violations increased to 2.8 million (a 23% increase).

The increase in the number of violations during each stage of the campaign implementation probably reflects the inadequate presence of police on the roads. While this evaluation suggests that the Salamati campaign failed to reduce car accidents, injuries, violations or deaths, it is instructive to note that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. That is, the evaluation of the campaign provides no means of directly attributing certain trends in road accident fatalities, injuries or violations to specific aspects of the campaign.

5.4 Summary of Findings and an Ideal Saudi Campaign Built on Lessons