Dumb Ways to Die is a public service announcement campaign by
Metro Trains in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to
promote rail safety. The campaign went viral
through sharing and social media starting in November 2012.[1]
Campaign
The campaign was devised by advertising agency McCann
Melbourne. It appeared in newspapers, local radio, outdoor advertising,
throughout the Metro Trains network and on Tumblr.[2]
John Mescall, executive creative director of McCann, said "The aim of this
campaign is to engage an audience that really doesn’t want to hear any kind of
safety message, and we think Dumb Ways To Die will."[2]
McCann estimated that within two weeks it had generated at least $50 million worth of
global media value in addition to more than 700 media stories, for "a
fraction of the cost of one TV ad".[3]
According to Metro Trains, the campaign contributed to a more than 30%
reduction in "near-miss" accidents, from 13.29 near-misses per
million kilometres in November 2011 – January 2012, to 9.17 near-misses per
million kilometres in November 2012 – January 2013.[4]
Video
A video was developed by Pat Baron, animated by Julian
Frost and produced by Cinnamon Darvall.[2]
It was uploaded to YouTube on 14 November 2012 and made public two days later.
It used black
comedy and featured "a variety of cute characters killing themselves
in increasingly idiotic ways"[5]
culminating in three characters being killed by trains due to unsafe behavior.
It was viewed 2.5 million times within 48 hours[1]
and 4.7 million times within 72 hours.[5]
Within two weeks the video had been viewed 28 million times and spawned 85
parodies. As of August 2013 the video has had over 55 million views.[3]
Song
The song "Dumb Ways to Die" from the video
was written by John Mescall with music by Ollie
McGill from The Cat Empire, who also produced it.[7]
It was performed by Emily Lubitz, the lead vocalist of Tinpan
Orange, with McGill providing backing vocals.[1][5]
It was released on iTunes,
attributed to the artist "Tangerine Kitty" (a reference to Tinpan
Orange and The Cat Empire). Within 24 hours of its release, it
was in the top 10 on the iTunes chart and on 18 November was the sixth most
popular song globally,[1]
ahead of "Diamonds" by Rihanna.[8]
It was described as "Australia's biggest ever viral hit".[7]
It also reached the top 10 on iTunes charts in Hong Kong,[9]
Singapore,[10]
Taiwan,[11]
and Vietnam.[12]
Within two weeks, 65 cover versions had been uploaded to YouTube.[3]
Game
In May 2013, Metro released a "Dumb Ways to
Die" game as an app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.[13][14]
The game invites players to avoid the dangerous activities engaged in by the
various characters featured throughout the campaign.[15]
Within the app, players can also pledge to "not do dumb stuff around
trains".[16][17]
Reception
Susie Obrien in the Herald Sun in Melbourne criticised
the ad for trivialising serious injuries and being about advertisers' ego
rather than effective safety messages.[19]
Simon Crerar of the Herald Sun
wrote that the song's "catchy chorus is the most arresting hook since PSY's Gangnam
Style".[5]
Alice Clarke writing in the Herald Sun described the video as
"adorably morbid" and wrote that Victoria's public transport
"broke its long running streak of terrible ads".[20]
Daisy Dumas of the Sydney Morning Herald described it as
"darkly cute - and irksomely catchy" and the chorus as "instant earworm
material".[21]
Michelle Starr of CNET described the
campaign as "The Darwin Awards meets The Gashlycrumb Tinies" and the
song as "a cutesy indie-pop hit in the style of Feist".[22]
Logan Booker of Gizmodo described
it as "taking a page out of the Happy Tree Friends book and mixing cute with
horrifying".[23]
Karen Stocks of YouTube Australia said the video was
unusual due to the high number of views from mobile devices.[24]
Stocks attributed the success to "A snappy headline. A catchy tune that
gets stuck in your head. And a message that is easy to understand and perfectly
targeted."[24]
The Sunshine Coast Daily described it as
"the Gangnam Style of train safety campaigns".[25]
Arlene Paredes of the International Business Times said
the video was "brilliant in getting viewers' attention" and
"arguably one of the cutest PSAs ever made".[26]
Controversy and
censorship in Russia
In February 2013, Artemy
Lebedev's blog
was censored by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government agency in charge of
Internet censorship, for including the video.[27]
Later that day, the YouTube video was also censored, with the "This
content is not available in your country due to a legal complaint from the
government" message. The official takedown notice sent to Livejournal.com
was quoted, in part, by Lebedev in his blog.
The song's lyrics contains a description of different
ways of committing suicide, such as: using drugs beyond their expiration date,
standing on an edge of a platform, running across the rails, eating superglue
and other. The animated personages demonstrate dangerous ways of suicide in
attractive for children and teenagers comic format. The lines such as
"hide in a dryer" and "what's this red button do?" contain
an incitement to commit those acts.
Awards
The campaign won seven Webby
Awards in 2013 including the Best Animation Film & Video and Best
Public Service & Activism (Social Content & Marketing).[28]
It won three Siren Awards, run by Commercial Radio
Australia, including the Gold Siren for best advertisement of the year and
Silver Sirens for the best song and best campaign.[29][30]
The public service announcement was awarded the Grand
Trophy in the 2013 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards.[31]
In June 2013, the campaign won the Integrated Grand
Prix at the Cannes
International Festival of Creativity.[32]
Effectiveness
and unwanted repercussions
Despite being a popular campaign, baseline statistics
on near misses at level crossings in the target state of Victoria show no change.
There have been 25-30 near misses every quarter for the past 9 quarters and the
rate has continued generally unchanged during the campaign period.[33]
Suicide is one of the most influential causes of rail trauma, and the ad
reinforces deadly trains as a possible suicide method.[34]
Snowclones
The success of the campaign has caused "Dumb ways
to ..." to become popular as a phrasal
template or Snowclone.[35][36][37]
References
1. ^ Jump
up to: a b
c
d
"Metro's
tongue-in-cheek transport safety animated video goes viral on social
media". The Age. 19 November 2012.
2. ^ Jump
up to: a b
c
"McCann's
dumb ways to die". Australian Creative. 19 November 2012.
3. ^ Jump
up to: a b
c
"Aussie
viral video, 'Dumb Ways to Die', lives on". The Age. 29 November 2012.
4. Jump up ^ Stephen Cauchi (14 February 2013). "No
dumb luck: Metro claims safety success". The Age. Retrieved 15
February 2013.
5. ^ Jump
up to: a b
c
d
"Cute
Melbourne safety video Dumb Ways to Die becomes internet smash".
Herald Sun. 19 November 2012.
7. ^ Jump
up to: a b
"'Dumb
ways to die' goes viral". 3AW. 19 November 2012.
8. Jump up ^ "McCann
creates Australia's biggest ever viral hit". B&T Marketing &
Media. 10 November 2012.
14. Jump up
^ "Dodge
Piranhas and Swat Wasps in new 'Dumb Ways to Die' Game". Creativity
Online. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
15. Jump up
^ "Dumb
Ways to Die: You have to Keep Them Alive, or Die Hilariously". App
Chronicles. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
16. Jump up
^ Nudd, Tim. "Dumb
Ways to Die Is Now a Video Game for the iPhone and iPad McCann Australia
extends beloved train-safety ad". AdWeek. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
17. Jump up
^ "Dumb
Ways To Die tops charts with new iPhone + iPad app game via McCann + Barrel Of
Donkeys". Campaign Brief. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
19. Jump up
^ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/ego-trip-a-dumb-way-to-tackle-rail-safety/story-fn56aaiq-1226523387207?from=herald+sun_rss
21. Jump up
^ "Being
dumb is almost cool with surprise advertising hit". Sydney Morning
Herald. 19 November 2012.
23.Jump up
^ "Adorable,
Yet Horrifying Metro Trains Safety Video Quietly Becomes A YouTube
Sensation". Gizmodo. 19 November 2012.
24.^ Jump
up to: a b
"Mobile
devices help ‘Dumb ways to die’ become the fastest spreading Australian viral
brand video of all time". mUmBRELLA. 19 November 2012.
25.Jump up
^ "Dumb
ways to die video the Gangam Style of train safety". Sunshine Coast
Daily. 20 November 2012.
26.Jump up
^ "Viral
Video with 8M Views: "Dumb Ways to Die" Melbourne Metro Ad - Cute,
Twisted, Brilliant". International Business Times. 5 January 2013.
27.Jump up
^ "Post
on your blog for clip on blocked Lebedeva stupid ways to commit suicide".
Lenta.ru. 5 February 2013.
30.Jump up
^ "Dumb
Ways to Die campaign dominates best radio ads of the year". Commercial
Radio Australia.
31. Jump up
^ "Dumb
Ways does it again". australiancreative.com.au. 4 May 2013.
Retrieved 10 July 2013.
32.Jump up
^ Mark Sweney (2013). "Cannes
Lions: Dumb Ways to Die scoops top award". The Guardian. Retrieved
2013-08-09.
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