One of the leading causes of deaths in America are car accidents. Within car accidents, drunk driving has the highest percentage rate out of all other influences. According to the NHTSA, "in 2012, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes.  --  one every 51 minutes." Many "drink responsibly" ads have been created when it was evident that death and accidents rates were increasing, especially by alcohol companies themselves. Heineken's ad for drinking responsibly displays a message simple enough for us to understand: drinking and driving is an accident waiting to happen, but there is a deeper meaning you can get from the picture. Life always seems to be taken for granted. It is full of opportunities and should not be stripped away by someone driving under the influence. The ad effectively shows the message because of the use of parallelism, color, perception and symbolism.

Heineken portrays the ad in a shadowy night-time environment. You can tell the picture was taken at night because the sky is pitch black and the streets are colored by the yellow toned streetlight lamps. The grungy monotone color represents a cold unpleasant feeling. The buildings are covered by shadows. Shadows signify a sense of evil and surprise around the corner, similar to car accidents. The author's decision to color the picture at night was the right choice because most drunk driving accidents occur more at night than day. The NHTSA says that in 2011, "fatal crashes in 2011 was 4.5 times higher at night than during the day." It was reasonable to paint the picture in a night time scene because people who usually drink and drive, do so at night which means tragedy strikes more at night too as well. The ad wouldn't be as effective if the creator made the image in the day time because accidents are less common when the sun is out. It doesn't give the image the gloomy mood either.

Perspective is the strongest aspect for the Heineken ad. As for photographic perspective, it shot at high angle shot facing down towards the middle of a street intersection. Also with this perspective you can see this never ending road. Symbolizing a path for endless possibilities in life. There are many things to do in life but can be ended with a decision to drive drunk. We can also see the drunk driver's perspective. We are able to understand effects of intoxication. Instead of the white stop line placed adjacent to the stop sign, the stop line is in the middle of the intersection, a few yards up from the stop sign. It is in the perfect position for a car on the horizontal street to collide with the side of the car on the vertical street. This symbolizes a car accident ready to happen. Car accidents usually happen because of mistakes, and stopping not where you're supposed to is definitely a mistake. The small white text says at the bottom says "When you drink, your reaction time slows down." Heineken tells the audience the risk of driving drunk, your perceptions are impaired and is blurring your vision to what is accurate.

There are a variety of causes of drunk driving, whether it's an addiction, relieving stress, peer pressure or maybe it's intentional as a form of suicide, but we can all agree that driving under the influence should be prevented at all cost. People should realize how valuable life is before they risk throwing at all away by driving drunk. Especially living a life with privileges. Having a family and friends to care for you is a privilege. So is being able to eat, hear, see and feel. Driving is a big privilege, so is drinking legally, but you can throw it all away making mistakes to abuse these privileges. Some people believe the main goal in life is to experience everything you can before you die and stay optimistic while at it The risk of drinking and driving is not worth it. You've come so far just to lose it, or to lose someone you care about.

The most unfortunate case of life is the end of life. It's pretty hypocritical for alcohol companies to create ads for drinking responsibly when they're the cause drunk driving. I'm sure it's not their intention but alcohol will be abused no matter what. Alcohol abuse leads to death, and a form of the abuse is driving under the influence. Life is too meaningful just to be taken away by drunk driver. Heineken did a great job displaying the message with its compositional elements and symbolism.
