It's an exciting year, isn't it? The nation's going back to basics, learning the forgotten art of darning a sock. We're rediscovering the real meaning of life, and it goes way beyond finding the best price on a basket of groceries. In among the duelling supermarkets banging on about value, we now find an advertiser cutting through with an altogether more fundamental message: 'How dead will you get?'
Stroke is the second biggest cause of death in the UK after heart attacks. Somewhere around the first day after turning 35, stroke becomes another one of those looming Things That Could Kill Me Today. Every five minutes someone in the UK has a stroke. It could be you, your partner, a parent or even your child.
The NHS spot for stroke awareness is brutally simple. It's a visualisation of an old paramedics' F-A-S-T test, spelt out using scenes of a man in a cinema with malfunctioning of the Face, Arms, Speech and then... erm... Time (to call 999). It could well have been written, directed and art-directed by paramedics themselves (missed opportunity).
It's hard not to laugh when you watch this spot, as it is so crudely put together. However, you can't escape the message, so are left with one last line of defence: hope that you or someone you love aren't the poor sod in the cinema having your face picked out of your popcorn. The message is crystal clear - act FAST or get deader.
Like all good government advertising, the message is useful and memorable. The real brilliance of the piece, however, is that it can save taxpayers money on two fronts: getting people to hospital faster, thus reducing stroke rehabilitation costs; and stopping people annoying their GP with a headache, thinking that it could be a Thing That Could Kill Me Today. Face - check. Arms - check. Speech - check. Time - to have a cuppa.
As a piece of creative it is hardly enviable. It lacks any modern craft aesthetic or a story (beyond making people talk about the ad). Also, given that it may be a youngster having to make the 999 call, it would have benefited from at least trying to look like it was conceived to talk to someone under 50.
Nonetheless, its effectiveness in reaching those most at risk is undeniable. A good old-fashioned public-service message, delivered to an audience raised on good, old-fashioned public messages.