In the new advert on road safety there are no seat belts: the Ministry’s mistake

In the new advert on road safety promoted by the Ministry of Transport there is a bit of everything, condensed into thirty seconds: youth slang, social media, the message against the use of cell phones in cars. Too bad there are no seat belts.

No one is wearing them in two of the three commercials released yesterday on the YouTube channel of the ministry of Matteo Salvini, all aimed at raising awareness among a very young audience about some potentially fatal attitudes but too often adopted while driving.

It is not clear how such a detail, far from irrelevant given the final objective, went unnoticed during all stages of making the video, from conception to publication. But it certainly did not survive the intransigent control of social media unscathed, where the offending commercials quickly became the object of ridicule and criticism.

The message against using cell phones in cars

The advert which is the object of the most ruthless targeting sees four girls going out together in a car in the evening to go and have fun. In these thirty seconds, social media is a central and cumbersome element: first used for a live broadcast, then to exchange messages with friends and finally to show photographs to the driver, putting the protagonists’ safety at risk.

In the end two alternative scenarios open up, shown simultaneously on the screen: in the first the girl driving decides to look at her friend’s cell phone several times and ends up causing an accident, in the second she chooses not to get distracted.

The commercial’s testimonial is Elisabetta Gregoracciwhich appears at the end of the video to remind you how important it is to pay attention to the road while driving.

The seat belt problem

As is evident from the video, however, none of the girls, with the possible exception of the driver, are wearing a seat belt. Not only the two people sitting in the rear seats, therefore, for whom in any case the seat belt is mandatory as established by the Highway Code, but not even the passenger sitting next to the steering wheel.

An element that remains constant both in the versions in which the protagonist makes a wrong decision and in the virtuous alternative. An error that was not noticed either during the filming or editing phase or even by those who saw the video before publication.

The same problem also recurs in another video, in which the protagonist is tempted to use cannabis while driving. In a third advert, however, the protagonists wear their seat belts despite being in a stationary car.

Salvini reshares the video

Even Matteo Salvini does not notice, or ignores, the error, who reshares the commercial on his social networks. “Make the only choice possible. Because it’s your life and that of others”, writes the minister, who adds: “Not only fining and punishing, but also educating and raising awareness: the new #RoadCode also passes through here”.