Surprising advertising campaign: funeral home asks neighbors not to get vaccinated

In the United States

A giant hearse truck runs through Charlotte's streets sending a clear message: "Don't vaccinate yourself."

In the United States, they continue to carry out all kinds of campaigns to promote vaccination of their citizens and prevent more coronavirus deaths. Beer has been given away, pizza has been invited and millions of dollars at stake have been drawn all over the country so that those who are lagging behind and those who are not clear will be encouraged to inoculate the vaccine.

Now, a new advertising campaign has gone viral in Charlotte, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. An advertising agency has created a fake funeral home called Wilmore funeral Home: they rented a truck that they painted black as a hearse and where one can read a simple message: "Don't get vaccinated."

The truck has walked through the streets of this city of 850,000 inhabitants, becoming a real bomb. But if you go on the website of the supposed Wilmore funeral home, you find a very different message: "Vaccine now. If not, see you soon." And it links to the website of a health company that is in charge of administering vaccines.

Do something different

The marketing campaign has gone viral in Charlotte and the networks are full of photos of people who have seen the funeral truck around the city. The agency BooneOakley, whose director, David Oakley, claimed they wanted to do something different because "I feel like conventional advertising is not working."

Oakley recognizes CNN that "we wanted to do something that saw it from a different perspective and surprised people and made them think. I think the reason we did it was because we want people to get vaccinated and I think that even if only one person gets vaccinated because of that advertising campaign, I give it great success. With only one person it's worth it to me."

About 10 million people live in North Carolina, and there are nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases that have left more than 15,000 fatalities. However, in cities such as Charlotte, the number of vaccinations does not reach 50 per cent, so all campaigns aimed at increasing those data are necessary.