RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – Many public service announcements tend to rely on scare tactics to persuade viewers to follow safety advice.
The Oglala Lakota Nation’s Department of Public Safety wanted to do things differently. The Department brought in Toby Brusseau, owner of a Rapid City content creation group known as Prima Materia, to produce the advertisement, known as “Click It or Ticket.”
“They wanted a new ad that would resonate with viewers,” said Brusseau. “Most of the time, you see an overplayed public service announcement that doesn’t really resonate, they can be very negative.”
Brusseau hired two actors who are members of the Oglala Lakota Nation and have lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation. With the two characters seated in a car, the passenger states he doesn’t want to wear a seatbelt, saying his ancestors didn’t do so either. The scene flashes to the past, showing both characters’ ancestors did wear seatbelts, even when riding horses.
One of the actors, Lyle LeBeaux, mentioned the PSA was well-received among the Oglala community and has reached a wider audience.
“I was looking over the people that shared it, you know, it got shared in Oklahoma, North Carolina,” said LeBeaux. “So, it kind of went all over.”
LeBeaux and Brusseau both expressed a desire to work on similar projects in the future. The advertisement can be viewed here.
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