One government-funded campaign, designed to excite the viewer and sell tickets to the race, depicts high-powered cars speeding on open country and city streets; another campaign, also government-funded, pleads with viewers not to do this.

The first campaign, which would be in clear breach of the automotive industry’s self-imposed advertising code of conduct if it was promoting a car brand, is the official campaign to sell tickets to the V8 race carnival, which begins today.

Road safety researchers have found that risky behaviour in car ads can promote these behaviours on the streets, which is why the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ voluntary code for motor vehicle advertising bans the kind of material in the State Government’s promotional campaign.

It seems the State Government also suspects the message in its “The Streets Are Calling” campaign could lead to poor driving choices because it has rolled out a second ad for the car race – this time warning people that risky driving is never okay on the streets.

Leave it for the professionals on the track is the message, which is exactly what is not happening in the original ad, no matter what the fine print says about “authorised, controlled safety conditions” and “professional drivers”.

The commercial shows bystanders being surprised by speeding cars, their wine glasses rattling on restaurant tables. High-powered vehicles slide around city streets, alongside parked vehicles. A bystander in a parked car nearly spills his coffee as the cars race by.

It depicts very dangerous driving on recognisable Adelaide thoroughfares – not the closed street circuit –  alongside normal citizens going about their business.

Its message is explicit: fast, dangerous driving is exciting, even more so when it’s on “the streets”.

See for yourself:

The safety campaign has a very different presentation and message, with a professional driver Todd Hazelwood shown on the track and off.

His sober approach to driving on the streets is in stark contrast to the promotional campaign.

Behind every road safety concern is a series of human tragedies, which makes the content of the promotional campaign so surprising.

In recent weeks, SA Police have confirmed speeding is the major factor in local road fatalities this year.

And just this week, the State Government has responded to one particularly awful road tragedy with new legislation to govern how very high-powered vehicles are regulated.

In fact, the Adelaide 500 promotional ad was released around the same time as the South Australian community was attempting to come to terms with the result in the court case of Alexander Campbell, who lost control of a high-powered Lamborghini, killing teenage pedestrian Sophia Naismith.

In October, Campbell was given a four-month and 27-day suspended sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated driving without due care, prompting the government to introduce a raft of legislative changes this week.

Campbell’s out-of-control car ended up hitting a restaurant. There’s an unfortunate parallel right there with the Adelaide 500 commercial.

Creating compelling advertising isn’t an easy task, and I understand that the promotional campaign was designed to showcase South Australia’s regions and the vitality of the city in an exciting way. The V8 race, of course, needs to be promoted.

But the Government should have taken its own advice, and kept it on the track.