Skip Navigation



Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on September 14, 2005
Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdi049
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
27/4/318    most recent
fdi049v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Shin, P. C.
Right arrow Articles by Granton, J. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Shin, P. C.
Right arrow Articles by Granton, J. T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved.

Article

Unsafe driving in North American automobile commercials

Phillip C. Shin MD1, David Hallett MSc, PhD2, Mary L. Chipman MA3, Charles Tator MD, PhD4, and John T. Granton MD1*

1 Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5
2 Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5
3 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5
4 Division of Neurosurgery, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5; ThinkFirst, Canada

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
John T. Granton, E-mail: john.granton{at}uhn.on.ca


  Abstract

Background Motor-vehicle crashes (MVCs) are a leading cause of death of young Americans and Canadians. Aggressive driving and driving at high speed are frequently cited as contributing to crashes. Consumer and safety associations have raised concern that driving behaviour portrayed in automobile commercials may influence consumer-driving behaviour. However, the prevalence of aggressive driving in automobile commercials has not been systematically evaluated.

Objectives To identify the prevalence and types of unsafe driving that are portrayed in United States and Canadian televised automobile commercials as well as the use of safety promotion and disclaimers.

Design All English language automobile and truck commercials (≥30 seconds in length), airing nationally on major broadcast and cable networks in either the United States or Canada during January or July between 1998 and 2002 were assessed by three independent raters for the presence and type of unsafe driving activity, presence of safety promotion and the use of written disclaimers in each commercial.

Results Of 250 total commercials, 113 (45 per cent) contained an unsafe driving sequence as determined by at least two of three raters. Unanimous agreement as to the presence of an unsafe driving sequence was found in 63 (25 per cent) commercials. Aggressive driving accounted for 85 per cent of the unsafe driving sequences, including 56 per cent with speed violations. Safety promotion was present in 30 (12 per cent) commercials. Of 141 commercials in which the gender /sex of the driver was shown, 115 (81 per cent) displayed a male driver.

Conclusion Unsafe driving is prevalent in North American automobile commercials. Given the extent to which MVCs are a public health and economic concern, this finding seems in conflict with responsible advertising. The degree to which the portrayal of driving in automobile commercials affects consumer-driving behaviour should be an area of further investigation.

Keywords: automobile advertising, motor-vehicle crashes, trauma.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.