Motoring

VW not sorry for #Moozlie video and here are the reasons

Well-known TV presenter Nomuzi Mabena, better known as Moozlie, shocked South Africans last week by faking an accident.

It later emerged that the footage of her promoting her label while driving, in what appeared to be a live ‘selfie’ feed interrupted by an accident where viewers next saw shattered glass, was actually a hoax, created as part of the #DriveDry campaign sponsored by Volkswagen.

While some did see through it, due to the many inconsistencies in the footage, many were shocked and worried sick, which soon turned to social-media-vented outrage as the truth was revealed. How could they play around with something as serious as death? How could they make friends, family and fans worry about her for so long? After all, Moozlie was said to be uncontactable for most of the next day.

Fair enough. But the question at the top of our minds was – where is all the outrage over South Africa’s shocking road carnage? Almost 15 000 perish on our roads each year, largely due to human error and extremely foolish and inconsiderate behaviour, including distracted driving and being intoxicated behind the wheel.

Why so little outrage over the driving habits of our fellow South Africans?

And here’s where it starts to hit home hard, as Volkswagen defiantly explained after releasing a new campaign video on its YouTube channel on Monday:

The new video shows the posts that Moozlie shared with social media fans over the most recent festive season.

“More than 300 000 people viewed Moozlie’s posts, which show her ‘drinking’, and ‘using her phone’ while driving,” Volkswagen points out, “Yet only four people commented on her ‘reckless driving’.

“The video was released to point out how many people did not notice the signs and failed to call her behaviours out, as well as to address the outrage with a call to action to pledge.”

Volkswagen also urges those angered by the campaign to rather direct that rage at those reckless and intoxicated drivers that continue to put all of our lives at risk.

“Whilst this has been a polarising campaign, with many sharing their outrage and many sharing their support, Volkswagen and Drive Dry now ask the public, ‘who is willing share their pledge to drive responsibly in order to prevent this kind of accident, from being anybody’s reality?’”

So how can I take the pledge?

Simply hashtag #VWDriveDry on your favourite social media platform.

Source: IOL Motoring