To Vadodara’s city police, a picture can help stop a thousand violations. So when they wanted to talk traffic rules, they got a poster made with winking sensation Priya Prakash Varrier, the actor, gazing at motorists with the advice, “Accidents happen in the wink of an eye: drive carefully, without distraction.”
There are many more such cinematic messages, in vivid poster colours, and they are online at the Twitter handle of Vadodara City Police (@Vadcitypolice), establishing a strong connect with the internet generation.
Creative input
A creative agency is behind the connection that the police have established on Twitter and Facebook. Popular icons do the talking and the messages are short and humorous. The hash tags leave no one in doubt that the police mean business: #SarkariMehman or #LetsCatchUp are shorthand for the trouble that awaits violators.
Some of the advice is simply meant to protect. “Sometimes, sharing is not caring: Never share your passwords with anyone. Never Ever” says a poster.
“This is about connecting with citizens using day-to-day popular language and icons to drive home the point. It has created a strong buzz and we are getting good response,” Vadodara Police Commissioner Manoj Sashidhar told The Hindu .
Regular police language is hardly understood by youngsters, and the police opted for social media.
“If I tweet that bribing is a punishable offence, nobody will give it a second glance. But our tweet with the tagline Kuchh le-de ke khatam karte hain [let’s settle it with something] and hashtag #SarkariMehman went viral on WhatsApp and other platforms,” he said.
