RSA spent €975k on ad campaign that was labelled 'ableist' and 'offensive' 

The advert depicts a young driver who has been banned from driving being carried on the shoulders of his friends, girlfriends, and mother with the tagline ‘lose your licence, lose your independence’.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) spent just over €975,000 on a recent advertising campaign that was heavily criticised and described as “ableist” and “offensive”.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show €360,000 alone was spent on the production of a television advert for the controversial “Lose your licence, lose your independence” campaign.

While its chair Liz O’Donnell raised concerns internally she could see how it would be offensive to people, the RSA has defended its approach and said it arose from focus groups and the need to send a message to young male drivers in particular.

The advert depicts a young driver who has been banned from driving being carried on the shoulders of his friends, girlfriends, and mother with the tagline ‘lose your licence, lose your independence’.

Then-Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan called for the advert to be withdrawn, saying it was “horrible to see State money funding something so disrespectful to people with disabilities”.

Documents show Epilepsy Ireland wrote to RSA chief executive Sam Waide over the campaign, outlining it had been brought to their attention by many people with epilepsy who are restricted from driving due to their medical condition who felt it was “extremely insensitive”.

When you lose your licence, you become reliant on other people to take you where you need to go and you become a burden for others.
If you get caught drink or drug driving, you will be disqualified 🚫
🔗 https://t.co/bqecGYVfkN#RoadSafety #DriveSafely #VisionZero pic.twitter.com/fs9iQZtJIi

— RSA Ireland (@RSAIreland) August 19, 2024

In correspondence with Mr Waide and the RSA’s director of partnerships and external affairs Sarah O’Connor in August, Ms O’Donnell said she was “getting some pushback” over the advert and “we could do without any public controversy at the moment".

Ms O’Connor said she had done a “temperature check” with the Department of Transport and an adviser to the Taoiseach.

“All of those I’ve spoke to have classified this as August ‘silly season’ treatment of an advert directed at dangerous behaviours undertaken by young men,” she said.

The documents released under FOI show €463,569 was spent on production costs for the campaign, while a further €439,737 was classified as media spend, which included €34,000 on radio advertising and €44,000 on social media.

A further €72,600 was spent on the development of a campaign strategy through a creative and digital agency.

In a statement, the RSA said the ad campaign “stemmed from the need to communicate to all drivers, but particularly young male drivers, about the potential consequences of dangerous driving behaviours on their own lives”.

“We have recently received post-campaign analysis and are expecting final copy of tracking of the campaign's effectiveness shortly,” it said. 

“We are also undertaking additional focus groups in coming weeks to identify next steps for the campaign and to ascertain if any changes need to be made it.”