Understanding the Impact of Texting and Driving Awareness

Text 1 is a public service announcement conceptualized and designed by Terremoto Propaganda, a creative ad agency based in Curitiba, Brazil. The title of the PSA is “Stop the Violence: Don’t Text and Drive”. Text 2 is a newspaper article written by Barbara Ortutay, a technology writer for the Associated Press. The title of the article is “Distracted Driving is Rampant Across North America”. Both texts share many commonalities and differences with regards to context, purpose, audience, and formal and stylistic features.

Each text has a unique context that is different from the other. The context of Text 1 is a PSA created as part of an ad campaign for the bus rapid transit system, Ecovia. The PSA, published in January 2013, was created in Brazil. On the other hand, the context of Text 2 is an article published in November 2014 for the Associated Press, an American news agency headquartered in New York City. The article was also featured in Canadian newspapers through The Canadian Press. As such, it is clear that both texts have different contexts.

Although both texts have different contexts, they share a similar purpose. Text 1 is a powerful visual PSA created to raise public awareness about the consequences of drunk driving and ultimately discourage drivers from driving under the influence. The ad captures attention easily because it is very creative and original. Similarly, Text 2 is a newspaper article also aimed at raising awareness on a social issue. Instead of drunk driving, the article discusses the dangers of texting and driving. The article analyzes an AT&T survey about texting and driving and encourages people to refrain from doing so. Therefore, both texts present a similar purpose, as they are designed to raise public awareness on a social issue.

One significant difference between the two texts is the audience. The intended audience of Text 1 is people aged 16 to mid-30s. This is suggested because the model used for the ad campaign appears to be within that age range. Text 2, however, has a much larger intended audience. In the article, the author expresses that the AT&T study surveyed individuals aged 16 to 65 who “drive almost every day and text at least once a day.” Thus, it is assumed that the article is geared towards any individual that texts and drives within that age range. Hence, each text is tailored for a different set of audiences.