This video came out earlier this year as part of the Sussex Safer Roads campaign promoting the use of seat belts. While the primary inspiration behind the video is road safety, I think the reason it became so popular is because the end result connects with people on a variety of different levels. At least it does with me, which is why I like it so much and keep referencing it almost a year later.
While the production itself, along with the sound and the photography and the slow motion effect and the glitter and the idea behind it all are spectacular (especially the moment of impact – HOW BRILLIANT WAS THAT??!!), what I like the most about the video is the message(s) it’s trying to convey. I must’ve seen it at least 30 times by now and I still get goose bumps for most of those 90 seconds.
For me, the best part of the campaign is the tag line … Embrace Life. It will take me a bit more than a blog entry to describe how I feel about the concept of “embracing life”, but perhaps this is a good place to start.
It’s not a big secret that I’m madly in love with life. I am a huge fan. I think it offers so many amazing things and experiences and emotions and colors and sounds and tastes and feelings and opportunities to us all. And perhaps one of the most disappointing things for me to see is when people don’t take advantage of everything/anything it has to offer – when people don’t embrace life and don’t give it a big ol’ squeeze.
I don’t understand people who spend their free time doing nothing. I don’t understand parents who just plop their kids in front of a TV and let them watch cartoons all day. I don’t understand teenagers who are glued to their iPods and iPhones and video games (see previous blog entry). Same goes to the adults and their blackberries. And all the people hanging out at the malls all the time – I don’t understand you, people, either. It all seems like such a waste of time and life to me. And as good and useful as technology has become, perhaps it is the root cause of our degradation as an educated/cultured society.
There is so much interestingness out there. So many amazing new things we can learn. So many people we can meet. So many books we can read. So many places we can visit. So much knowledge we can gain just by experiencing something new. The world is such a fascinating place and we don’t need to travel far or spend ridiculous amounts of money to try something new. How about learning a new language? Seeing an art exhibit? Finding a new hobby? Helping out in the community? Taking pictures? Dancing? Singing? Learning a martial art? Drawing? Traveling? Cooking? Exploring a new neighborhood? Taking guitar lessons? Trying a new cuisine? The opportunities are endless and we have to be better at taking advantage of those opportunities, especially since we have just this one precious life to do it all.
A few years ago I came across this simple photo, which had a huge impact on how I view and live my life. The message is simple: turn on your curiosity engines, put on your explorer goggles and live!
I particularly like the “demand passion” part, but I’ll save that for another entry. Passion is one of my favorite words. It gives me such great joy just hearing what sorts of things people are passionate about, how they define passion and what they do to keep that passion fire burning. More on that in the future, though.
I am going to conclude this entry with another amazing ad campaign, which came out a little while ago. I think it very accurately captures the spirit of exploring, embracing and living this life to the fullest. The world is just awesome and all we have to do is open our minds and let it all in.
Boom De Ah Dah!!!
The Beat of Life 