This spot opens with a shot of a cute, modest suburban home. The camera then takes us into that abode, where a man and a woman are seated on a couch. The guy talks directly into the camera. At first, we assume he’s talking about condoms.
"It’s not that I had a reason for not wearing one," he says. "I just never got into the habit—until I met Dottie."
But then there’s a quick detour. "She always wears one," he continues, as the scene cuts to him and Dottie seated in a truck. The man is in the driver’s seat; she’s the front-seat passenger.
"The way she explained it to me…" says the man in voiceover, at which point we see Dottie grab the back of his head and slam it into the steering wheel, "…it hit me."
The spot then returns to the happy couple sitting on the couch. "Yeah, maybe at first I did it for her," says the guy. "But now, it’s just a habit."
A tag shows a graphic of a seatbelt being fastened, accompanied by copy that appears on screen and which is read by a voiceover: "Seatbelts. Pick up the habit for someone you love."
At the bottom of the screen, the sponsor is identified: the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
"The Explanation" was directed by Larry Shanet, a.k.a. Kranky, of X-Ray Productions, bicoastal and Chicago. The spot was produced by Shooters International, Toronto, which is repped by X-Ray in the U.S.
Agency was Odney Advertising, Bismarck, N.D., with Jeanne Nelson as the chief creative officer, Jeff Eslinger the group creative director/copywriter and Michael Bruner the group creative director/art director.
Pamela McNamara executive produced for Shooters, with Deborah Kelly serving as producer. The DP was Brett Van Dyke.
Offline/online editor was Mark Brown of Matrix, Toronto. Audio mixer was Eric Harry of Eric Harry Music, Toronto.
