Glee shows harms of texting while driving

Don't worry, this isn't a total recap of all the latest Glee episodes. I fell off that "Gleek" bandwagon a while ago...but after reading this eonline recap of tonight's latest episode, I wish I had tuned in. Glee ended the season with addressing the new widespread dilemma of texting while driving.

The character we all love, Quinn, was in a car accident while replying to a text from Rachel and the outcome didn't look promising. Apparently, the scene has been in the works since the cast appeared on Oprah when they signed a no texting while driving contract.

Currently, our group RE.branding solutions is working with AT&T to help spread their campaign message “It Can Wait”.

AAA found that the risk for a car accident increases by 50% for those who text while driving. A shocking statistic when initial AT&T research findings show that nearly 50 percent of teens admitted that they text and drive compared to one-fifth of adult drivers.

While anti-drinking and driving messages have been around for quite a while, texting and driving is just starting to surface. The question now is how do we create success for this new message such as the drinking while driving has done?

First off, the problem of drinking while driving has been around much longer, so it's expected that it's more successful. We can start off by looking at what they've done to gain ideas and guide us to success in our new campaigns. 

For example, there’s established advocacy groups such as M.A.D.D. and S.A.D.D. which produce high-quality programs such as Shattered Dreams throughout high schools across the nation. So far, I’ve only come across a small group called D.I.A.D., Drop It and Drive, which has been established for anti-texting and driving campaigns.

 

However, AT&T has started blasting this campaign on billboards and PSA’s with the message “It Can Wait”. These short messages show short or broken texts from the deceased individual who wrecked while texting and driving.

With AT&T's campaign as well as celebrity endorsements and television scenarios, I'm confident that as time goes on the anti-texting while driving message will grow stronger.