We're proud to see our Executive Creative Director, Joel Machak, get a taste of advertising immortality. On July 14th, his work on the “Crash Test Dummies” PSA campaign became part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian highlighted the campaign for having had a historic impact on the attitudes and behaviors of Americans toward automotive safety. The campaign increased seat belt usage from just 14% to a phenomenal 79%, saving an estimated 85,000 lives.

Produced for the U.S. Department of Transportation, “Crash Test Dummies” ran on TV, radio and in print from 1985 through 1998. The campaign was co-created by Joel and Jim Ferguson while at Leo Burnett, and was done in partnership with the Ad Council.

Among the items accepted into the Smithsonian collection were the original “Vince & Larry” crash-test dummy costumes, props, drawings, set sketches and photographs, plus many of the industry awards the campaign earned, from Clio to Cannes Lion.

See Vince, Larry and Joel on NBC Nightly News
with Brian Williams »

National Museum of American History web site
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