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Public-information films
公共信息电影广告
Don't stop, don't look, don't listen
莫停留，莫张望，莫听信
Scary adverts don't work, yet they are everywhere
骇人的广告如同鸡肋却无处不在
CHATTERING schoolchildren don colourful anoraks; clutching hands, they depart for a woodland picnic. Elsewhere a young man leaps into his car and speeds off to work. Moments later he careers off the road and his spinning car kills each one of the cheery youngsters. The camera lingers on their dead hands and the now-empty classroom. A grim voice explains that they represent the children killed as a result of speeding in Northern Ireland since 2000.
冻得瑟瑟发抖的孩子们穿着鲜艳的厚夹克，手拉手去森林野餐。在另一处一个年轻人跳上车加速行驶赶去工作。片刻之后道路上猛冲的车子失去控制撞向了那一群孩童，孩子们在这场车祸中无一幸免。镜头停留在他们毫无生命力的小手上以及如今空荡荡的教室里。一个恐怖的声音解释道，他们呈现的是自2000年起北爱尔兰因超速受害的儿童。
British road-safety adverts are more shocking than those broadcast in America, says Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent research group there. The British penchant for horror might reflect the nation's long tradition of public-service broadcasting, which seeks to entertain and inform at once. But do the ads work?
英国道路安全广告比在美国道路安全广告效果要震撼的多，当地一家独立研究机构——公路安全保险学会的安妮·麦克卡特如是说。倾向于使用恐怖元素的英国广告或许反映了国家公共服务广播的悠久传统，即能立刻起到娱乐兼信息发布的作用。但这真的有用吗？
Though gory, shocking public-information films linger in people's heads, they seem not to alter behaviour much. If the consequences seem too extreme, the threat may seem too far-fetched, says Josh Bullmore, who has both made and studied such adverts. Few may believe that disaster could befall them or adjust their behaviour accordingly. Tessa Langley of the University of Nottingham has compared the impact of smoking campaigns that showed tumours erupting disgustingly out of cigarettes with more positive ones that also urged people to quit. The former proved more memorable, but the latter led more people to ring the national smoking helpline.
尽管血淋淋的、震撼人心的公共信息电影广告停留在观众脑海里挥散不去，但人们似乎并没有从中受到多大教育。如果这些电影广告的结局太过极端，那么广告所起到的教育震慑作用就显得过于牵强附会了，乔希·布尔莫如是评价。他也曾参与制作和学习这类广告片。没几个人会相信灾难会降临到自己头上，他们也不会真的通过广告片来审视自己的行为。诺丁汉大学的泰萨·朗利将两种反吸烟运动的影响进行对比，一种是展示出因香烟造成的恶性肿瘤，另一种也是积极的却说人们戒烟。前者被证实更加难忘，但后者则引导了更多人拿起电话拨打全国戒烟热线。
The budget for public-information films is shrinking. The Central Office of Information, the government's marketing department, was closed in 2011. In 2008-09 the Department for Transport (DfT) spent almost ￡3m on its drink-drive advertising campaign. In 2013-14 spending fell to less than ￡1m. Unable to afford as many spots on television, the scaremongers hope their films will be shared on social media. And that is encouraging them to churn out the gory kind. In a recent advert from the DfT, men washing their hands in a pub toilet are startled by the face of a mannequin smashing bloodily through the mirror. The ad suggests a hashtag, publooshocker, for online sharing. Less shocking adverts might work better, but fewer people would see them.
公共信息电影广告的预算正在缩水。中央信息办公室，即政府的市场营销部门，早在2011年就关闭了。在2008至2009年间交通部门（DfT）在它的反酒驾广告运动上花费了近300万英镑。而在2013至2014年间在此花费却不到100万英镑。这种广告的制作商由于无法负担过多电视频道的费用，从而希望他们的电影广告可以通过社会媒体传播。并且那也促使他们大量炮制这种骇人的广告。DfT最近的一部广告中，人们在一个酒吧的洗手间洗手时被打碎镜子、满脸是血的人体模型的脸吓到。这个广告在线上分享时带有一个标签酒吧洗手间惊魂。少一些血腥元素的广告或许更有用，但那就没什么人会去看了。译者：邵夏沁 校对：周晓婷
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