Frontier Post Argumentative Essay

Drive Safe The Frontier Post, an English newspaper mostly based in the Middle East, released a particularly powerful advertisement in 2013 to promote safe driving. At first glance, it would appear that the advertisement is a picture of a firearm, front and center, placed in the spotlight of an otherwise gloomy backdrop. In reality, the advertisement depicts a set of car keys, cleverly arranged to resemble a revolver. Underneath the gun lies a very somber message, “Takes one life every 25 seconds, Drive Safe”. The bottom right corner displays the organization’s information, and the bottom left corner offers a citation for the hair raising statistic. One could quickly deduce that the Frontier Post was targeting people’s susceptibility to fear with this ad. The advertisement uses fear in order to evoke emotional responses to successfully fulfil its purpose.
Driving is something that most of us do on a daily basis, and probably without much thought of the risks involved. The ad takes advantage of how commonplace driving is, and uses a simple reminder to make people feel vulnerable in their everyday lives. In addition, it compares the dangers of driving recklessly to the dangers associated with firearms, which have a particularly bad image in the present age. As many people have a fear of guns, it seems like a great way to generate similar fear arounds a grossly unrecognized killer. Arranging the car keys in the shape of a gun is also a great way to catch people’s attention, as guns are considered much more interesting than a pair of car keys. I love how the advertisement draws people in with a certain expectation, and then crushes it, as the focus switches gears toward a completely different