Shell: Pedestrian Ghost

Many drivers do not see anything bad in speeding, they even share their 'fearless' driving online as thrilling in-car videos of speeding or racing are very popular among younger drivers. The idea was to create an off-line social event for broad internet discussion, which would change drivers' perception of speeding from fun to potentially deadly activity. JWT Bucharest created Pedestrian Ghost, which was the symbol of a living soul. Inside a manhole cover on a crosswalk we hid a special device containing helium-filled balloons and speed sensitive radar. Detecting a speeding cars it inflated human-shaped Pedestrian Ghosts. The driver had no choice but to slow down and realize that his speed could have just killed a real person. This experience was filmed with an in-car camera and posted on the internet like a regular user video.

The Pedestrian Ghost attracted an amazing amount of attention and discussion in media. The viral video was seen by more than 500 000 Internet viewers. This was due to the unexpected appearance of the ghost and comprehensive symbolism, which made people rethink the problem and reconsider their own behavior. In contrast to many similar videos where drivers got positive responses, all the comments were negative, criticizing drivers who break speed limits and stressing that this is high time for everyone to change their habits and pay attention to speed.