Hasta La Creative!

We’ve seen lots of “Don’t text and drive” ads lately. With this one from Ogilvy Beijing, Volkswagen drove the message home to a captive movie-theater audience in a way they’ll surely remember.

Watch the spot first to get the full impact.

Obviously the video begs the question about how, exactly, the stunt was pulled off. It says a “location-based broadcaster” was used—presumably this is done through geo-fencing, though you would think people would have to opt in to receive text messages that way.

But if the footage is genuine, it’s a remarkable way to demonstrate that mobile-phone use is now the leading cause of death behind the wheel. Advertising is a great way to get that message across, at least until VW figures out a way to use German engineering to solve our obsession with cellphones.