There you are, driving along in the middle of a typhoon with the black rainstorm warning in effect, rain beating against the windscreen, plumes of water splashing up from every passing vehicle and a voice comes on the radio ... 'Here is a message from the Road Safety Council. The road surface is wet ...'
Gee, thanks. However would we have known if you hadn't told us? And thanks also for the reminder to carry an umbrella when it rains.
Or in mid-winter as you are shivering under the quilt, the same voice comes on to tell you: 'It's cold outside, you should wrap up warm.' Or in mid-summer, you are stripped to your underwear, sweat gushing forth from every pore and there he is again: 'It's hot out today, stay in the shade, drink lots of water.' How did China survive for centuries without vital advice of this kind?
Another favourite is: 'Do not enter the water when the shark-warning flag is hoisted.' One question that immediately springs to mind is: 'Do people exist who need to be told this?' If they do, are they really worth saving? Isn't that how nature culls the herd of the weak and useless? All these slogans fall into the category of unnecessary reinforcement of common sense.
Then there are the truly meaningless ones like: 'I love Hong Kong, I love green.'
Now, we can all laugh at this nonsense, but there are some serious issues underlying these official messages.
First is the very real risk that we will automatically ignore all messages from the same source and thereby miss important information that would have been useful. We 'switch off' mentally, and this can actually create danger instead of inducing safety.