Cars24 puts drunk driving wreckage on billboards to sober up New Year revelry

MUMBAI: When the party lights blur, some reminders need to hit harder than a warning sign. This New Year season, Cars24 has swapped slick billboards for something far more unsettling: real, wrecked cars mounted across busy stretches of Delhi, Gurugram and Pune.

Launched on December 29, the outdoor campaign turns everyday commutes into moments of reckoning. Instead of stylised visuals or dramatic graphics, Cars24 has placed genuine accident-damaged vehicles on hoardings, forcing passers-by to confront the physical aftermath of drunk driving, not the abstract risk.

The timing is deliberate. Drunk driving remains a stubborn and deadly problem in India, particularly during festive peaks. On New Year’s Eve alone last year, enforcement agencies booked hundreds of offenders across major cities. National estimates for 2024 point to nearly 14,390 road accidents linked to drunk driving, claiming over 6,542 lives. Even official figures from the ministry of road transport and highways recorded 9,143 alcohol-related accidents and 3,674 fatalities in 2023, underlining the scale of the challenge.

By placing mangled cars in plain sight, the campaign relies on realism rather than shock tactics. The message is simple but difficult to ignore, celebrations last a night, consequences last far longer. Repeated exposure on high-traffic routes, paired with digital amplification, is designed to make that cost linger in people’s minds before they pick up their keys.

“As a company built around mobility, we know that every decision behind the wheel matters,” said Cars24 co-founder and group CMO Gajendra Jangid. “‘Drink and Drive’ is not about awareness alone, it is about accountability. If even one person pauses, puts the keys down and chooses safety, the campaign has done its job.”

The initiative reinforces Cars24’s wider push for responsible mobility and safer driving behaviour. As the year winds down and celebrations ramp up, the brand’s message cuts through the noise: no night out is worth a life, and some reminders are meant to stay long after the hangover fades.