{"id":20905,"date":"2017-05-18T10:52:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/?p=20905"},"modified":"2026-10-15T10:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:55:27","slug":"how-the-crash-test-dummies-revolutionized-seat-belt-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/how-the-crash-test-dummies-revolutionized-seat-belt-safety\/20905\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Crash Test Dummies Revolutionized Seat Belt Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Few characters can claim that they have saved 85,000 lives quite like the Crash Test Dummies<\/a>, Vince and Larry. We may look at them as a lighthearted, loveable duo now, but when the pair first appeared they were on a mission to prove the best way to be safe inside of a car meant buckling your safety belt. Let\u2019s take a step back in time to the \u201880s to see where they got their start, how they flipped the script on the traditional PSA, and their enduring impact as brand mascots \u2014 or should we say brand dummies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might seem impossible to think about now, but there was a time not too long ago when buckling your seat belt just wasn\u2019t the norm. The federal government moved to change this behavior in the early 1980s, with the U.S. Department of Transportation partnering alongside The Ad Council. Their goal was to create a safety belt education campaign with the message that safety belts could save lives. USDOT had done plenty of research \u2014 with surveys uncovering that in 1985, only 21% of Americans were buckling up \u2014 but they didn\u2019t know what to do with all this information. Even the agency within USDOT, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was all out of ideas after depicting horrific deaths that could have been prevented with the help of safety belts. It was time to bring in the creatives: The Ad Council recruited ad agency Leo Burnett for the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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