Video of car crash used by Spanish police is actually American AT&T advert
Video was staged by reality TV personalities as part of an AT&T road safety campaign
CLAIM
A video posted to X by Spain's Guardia Civil, the country's military police force, shows an apparent car crash taking place after the driver looked at her phone to see a message.
BACKGROUND
Spain's Guardia Civil has on multiple occasions posted the same video of a group of young women inside a car dancing to music before the driver receives an audible message and looks to her phone, resulting in a car crash.
The most recent example of this was a post by the Guardia Civil on April 12, 2024. No context was given about the video or the fate of the people in it.
The caption read: "Going on a trip with friends= 30k [likes]. Singing in the car and brightening the journey= 10k [likes]. Making funny videos and posting them on #RRSS [social networks]= 50k [likes]. Doing it all at the same time while forgetting to pay attention at the wheel 'CAN COST LIVES'. Road safety is worth more than 90k likes."
The state agency has published the video on prior occasions with similar captions each time, including in 2020 and in 2018.
METHOD
A reverse image search of the video brought us to the YouTube account called 'SummerBreak'. The profile used to publish a digital reality series that featured a number of young people in California. The show was sponsored by AT&T.
The account uploaded a video on August 2015 titled: "Fifth Harmony Worth It Carpool Karaoke". The footage matches that of the video shared by the Spanish Guardia Civil, but it is longer and has additional context at the end. It has over 8 million views on YouTube.
After the apparent car crash, a message appears on screen reading: "No post/glance/email/search/text is worth a life."
The 'driver' of the car in the clip then does a piece-to-camera where she says the crash was staged, but urged people not to use their mobile phone while driving.
The video was shot as part of U.S. phone carrier AT&T's 'It Can Wait' campaign, which aimed to warn people of the dangers of distracted driving.
RATING
The video was staged by reality TV personalities as part of an AT&T road safety campaign. It has no connection to any real crash nor any road safety campaign made by Spanish authorities.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Salir de viaje con amigas/os= 30k [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Salir de viaje con amig@s = 0€ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Cantar en el coche para alegrar el camino [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].
SummerBreak (2015). Available at: Fifth Harmony Worth It Carpool Karaoke | @SummerBreak 3. YouTube. [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024].