Safety ads up

By Nicole Williams
Joel Walker, Sam Qualizza and Adonis Bitanga entered the RACV Transmission Competition earlier this year and took out the top award for the metro region in Victoria.
The 30 second community service announcement titled ‘Whatever it takes, look after your mates’ debuted on Channel 7 on 30 November and will air on the station through the summer.
St Peters College media teacher, Gina Goss, said the win was very exciting and she was proud of the Year 11 students.
“I’m extremely proud of their efforts and the achievement,” Ms Goss said.
“It’s a real testament to their passion to getting the road safety message out.”
Joel, Sam and Adonis used humour to tackle the issue of drink driving among young people.
Filmed in Lyndhurst, the commercial followed two boys driving in a car who pass a woman trying to retrieve an item from a tree, a man tied to a lamp post by a garden hose and a man standing by his car without wheels.
The final scene shows ‘Whatever it takes, look after your mates.’
Ms Goss said they wanted to use humour rather than shock value to get people’s attention, particular young people.
“The judges chose this as the winning concept because the humour and originality of the concept stood out,” RACV manager road user behaviour Anne Harris said.
“We believe this message of doing whatever is necessary to look after your friends will resonate with young people.”
This year’s competition attracted more than 60 entries for the metropolitan category.