Organizations have run numerous advertisement campaigns that accentuate the necessity of protecting pedestrian life from reckless driving. The advertisement campaigns have been monotonous in their portrayal and presentation of concepts which endorse motorists and other vehicle drivers to confer to safe driving practices. The advertisement campaign by Smart differentiates itself from its peers, for its efficacious use of rhetoric which is capable of evoking the visual appeal from viewers. This paper attempts a critical analysis on the various rhetoric that is visible in the advertisement campaign of Smart.

                           Smart conveys its message of safe driving without the aid of superficial and decorative elements. The advertisement features a model who looks at the audience with neutral expression. Smart presents its advertisement with an Asian model with virtually no makeup. The viewer’s attention suddenly shifts to the left side of the model’s face, which is marred with the marks of the car tyres. The model’s austerity in expression and dressing accentuates the marks of the tyres. The company has excelled greatly in placing enough visual cues to spark the interests of the viewer to the real intended message of the advertisement.

                          The company has decided to opt for a simple and concise tagline that is sufficient to convey the intended message to the audience. The company does not resort to cheesy taglines but maintains the austerity in its phrased tagline as well. Smart’s tagline, “Pedestrians do not come with airbags” conveys the company’s intended message subtly with an emphasis on the vulnerability of the pedestrians who become the ultimate victims of reckless driving. From the tagline, it is evident that the model intends to portray a pedestrian who became a victim of rash and careless driving. The tagline of the company is dual faceted as it emphasis the vulnerability of pedestrian and the shielded appearance of drivers. Drivers may have either airbags or helmets to protect them from the perils of accident. However, pedestrians do not rely carry any protection while venturing into the roads and this makes them the most powerless party in the whole affair. The advertisement by smart has been successful in communicating the vulnerability of pedestrians and how they venture to the roads at the mercy of drivers. Unsafe speeds and out of the law turning that driver’s make on roads put the pedestrian’s life at great amount of risk. Every kind of traffic violation that drivers make on the road endanger not only their life but the life of pedestrians as well. Most drivers resort to aggressive driving practices on roads and pedestrians are the most aggrieved parties in the process.