Dame Helen Mirren has described people who drink-drive as a “human form of pollution” in a blunt and unorthodox advert broadcast across America during last Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The Budweiser advert, in which the actress describes herself as a “notoriously frank, uncensored British lady”, gives an unexpectedly stark warning to those intending to drive after the globally watched event.
Budweiser says that the advert aims to start a movement that stands apart from the typical drunk driving PSA (public service announcement) and is part of the ‘Simply Put’ campaign it operates with Anheuser-Busch.
It calls on drivers to #GiveADamn and protect their lives and the lives of others.
Although the advert will be shown in the US, it has received more than 2.1m views on YouTube since being uploaded on 2 February.
It carries relevance to UK drivers who, with some pubs and bars staying open until the early hours to show the event, may be tempted to drive home.
In the advert, Mirren, who appears in a restaurant booth, says that the “collective we are dumbfounded” that there are still those who choose to drink and then get behind the wheel.
She denounces drink-drivers as “pillocks”, saying that anyone who gets behind the wheel drunk is a “short sighted, utterly useless, oxygen wasting, human form of pollution. A Darwin award deserving, selfish coward”.
She adds that “if your brain was donated to science, science would return it”.
However, the minute-long advert ends with a more upbeat tone: “Your friends and family thank you and your future self thanks you. This is supposed to be fun”.
Fantastic.
Alasdair Brooks Hertfordshire
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