City police across India are using the ongoing IPL fever to deliver important road safety messages through creative social media campaigns. Capitalising on the nation’s love for cricket, these campaigns go beyond humour to effectively grab attention and make their message resonate with the public.
The campaigns don’t necessarily feature cricket stars or use direct analogies, but leverage exciting moments from matches to highlight specific traffic rules. This innovative approach has proven to be a hit, with the relatable cricket theme making the road safety message more memorable.
The West Bengal Police’s recent social media post exemplifies this strategy perfectly. Inspired by a sixer hit by Virat Kohli, they created a message promoting helmet use on roads. In the video, RCB’s captain Virat Kohli smacked a slow off-cutter by IPL’s costliest player, Mitchell Starc, over deep square leg for a six. In reaction, the Bengaluru crowd went into a state of meltdown.
Using this clip, the West Bengal police wrote, “Haar jeet ke hiseb rakhe. Rajar mukut mathaye thake.” which, when translated to English, means, “Who keeps account of wins and losses? The king’s crown is intact on his head.”
#ViratKohli #SafeDriveSaveLife pic.twitter.com/2Jyn4r6p6Q
— West Bengal Police (@WBPolice) March 29, 2024
The social media post has become very popular and has been viewed over 3,000 times.
However, in his innings, Virat Kohli smacked an unbeaten knock of 83 runs off 59 balls. As a result, Kohli is currently leading the race for the IPL 2024 Orange Cap with a total of 181 runs. Following him closely is Heinrich Klaasen from SRH, who has scored 143 runs and is in second place. Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson from RR are in third and fourth positions, respectively, with Parag scoring 127 runs and Samson scoring 97 runs. Additionally, Abhishek Sharma from SRH holds the fifth position with 95 runs.
