For My Girlfriend

FMG is an established young driver campaign that runs annually on and particularly around Valentine's Day. It is designed to remind young people of the potentially terrible consequences when things go wrong - by confronting a young male driver with the appalling prospect of killing his girlfriend in a crash while he is driving.

The use of a Valentine Card to convey a road safety message to young people has, at times, proved controversial - but also highly effective. Earlier this year, around Valentine's Day they distributed cards as part of their campaign. The Valentine cards were distributed in schools and colleges, pubs and clubs and other places where young people are found in numbers. The card looks authentic on the outside, but inside it carries the campaign's hard-hitting message.

They also run with posters; one shows a photo of a girl in a body bag with the headline: 'The worst way for a relationship to end?' The other shows a team of fire fighters and paramedics attempting to free a girl from a crashed car with the headline: 'If you don't want to see this many blokes around your girl...take responsibility when driving'.

I love this advertising. Yes it is a bit controversial, but it works. It makes you feel uncomfortable, it makes you think. Advertising like this does work. Last year at my old college, FMG came in and showed as two different advertisements. One was a For My Girlfriend style one, the other way just a plain, slow down one. When asked, everyone thought that the For My Girlfriend one made the biggest impact on them.

Lets hope that advertising like this continues and will make an impact on the number of accidents young people have.