"Elephant" was an innovative campaign that ran between 1993 and 1998, when it was replaced by "Julie". It was reposted at the Think! website in honour of the 20th anniversary of the ongoing national seat belts initiative, and you can see it here: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/seatbelts/download/19archive.mpg
(We open with four people driving along in an ordinary car, country 'n' western music playing on the radio. It's shot in black and white, and there's something that's not quite right about the scene, but all seems well as they are laughing and chattering away)
VO: In a crash at 30 miles per hour
(A lorry honks at them, and the driver desperately swerves to avoid it)
an adult back seat passenger without a seat belt
(Too late! They're crashing!)
is thrown forward at the force of 3 and a half tons*. The weight of an elephant
(The unrestrained man sitting behind the driver is thrown forward into the seat in front, and we see him morphing into an elephant in slow motion)
charging straight through the driver.
(The driver's seat lurches forward with the passenger's weight. The car horn sounds as his head smashes into the steering wheel, then he goes through the windscreen and out onto the bonnet, held in place by his seat belt. Close up as blood drips through his fingers)
You're NEVER safe in the back
(The front seat passenger stares in shock)
until you fasten your seat belt. Never forget -
(Background of the side of the car, with a splash of red paint on the road beside it, and broken glass all around. The words "NEVER FORGET" appear on screen, along with the "Safety on the Move" logo. We hear the "clunk" of a car door closing and the "click" of a seatbelt fastening as the words "Clunk Click" come up)
* I'm going to assume that's an imperial ton. We hadn't gone metric yet in 1993.
According to Wikipedia, this was the last seatbelts PIF to use any variant of the "Clunk Click" line, and I can't remember any since. I will, at some point, do another post on Jimmy Savile's famous "Clunk Click Every Trip" campaign.
In 1998, the "Julie" PIF took over, available for viewing here: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/seatbelts/download/20archive.mpg. In this one, a woman is driving her two teenage offspring to school but, we are warned, "Julie knew her killer". It's not going to be pretty. She seems paranoid about trying to avoid a van behind her, and is more concerned about constantly checking the rear view mirror than looking at the road ahead. Can you guess what happens next, boys and girls? That's right! She crashes into a parked car and although her seat belt stops her going forward, it's no protection from her son, who is sitting behind her without one and smashes into her. Watch that skull fracture in all directions! We finish with Julie's daughter screaming in terror as the young boy flops back into his seat ("after crushing her to death, he sat back down") and Julie's body remains motionless in the driver's seat, with blood everywhere. Midsomer Murders this is not, but it's still a scary PIF.
The original version, as you can see, had the endline "Belt up in the back. For everyone's sake" but it was later amended to show the Think! logo on a black screen, with the words "Think! Always wear a seat belt". According to Wikipedia, "Julie" was repeated overseas in France; and in 2004 (I think) it was replaced by the current and rather uninteresting "Rewind".
So there you have it, folks. Wear your seat belt, or you might turn into an elephant and kill your mother. Or something.
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