A truck bearing the message, “Don’t get vaccinated,” has fooled social media users after it emerged as a “dark” pro-vaccination campaign.
An “awesome” pro-vaccine advert with a dark message for anti-vaxxers has been praised after it fooled everyone.
Photos from the US of a truck bearing a messaged that read, “Don’t get vaccinated,” began circulating on social media over the weekend.
At first glance the message appears to support the anti-vax movement.
But on further inspection, the name of “Wilmore Funeral Home” can be read underneath the message.
And it didn’t take long for Twitter to blow up in support of the burial business’ ironic advert, that was seen driving around a football stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday.
“That is awesome! The funeral home wants your business, so don’t get vaccinated! Love it,” one wrote.
“Yesterday I saw an 18-wheeler with an ad saying “DON’T GET VACCINATED!”… it was an ad for a funeral home. Absolutely genius,” another said.
Someone else said: “Think about it … It’s a powerful message. Don’t get vaccinated, end up at funeral home.”
In the US more than 386 million doses of the vaccine have been administered with 55.6 per cent of the population being fully vaccinated.
However, the jabs have been passed up by some 70 million eligible Americans, Bloomberg reports.
Another twist in the tale
However the story behind the clever advert takes another surprise turn when you Google the name of the business.
Instead of finding a functioning funeral home, visitors are bought to a black page with the stark message: “Get vaccinated now. If not, see you soon.”
Clicking into the message directs you to the website of a local private healthcare centre StarMed, taking you directly to its Covid-19 vaccine page.
Wilmore Funeral Home never existed and instead was thought up by an ad agency working with StarMed Healthcare which came up with the idea of the campaign internally as a way to help push people to get vaccinated.
“Almost everyone here [at Boone Oakley agency] got their vaccines at StarMed,” David Oakley, president of Boone Oakley, told Newsweek.
“A lot of pro-vaccine advertising is very straightforward,” Mr Oakley said. “We thought, ‘Is there a way to turn it around and do it from a different perspective?’”
Once they formed the idea, they purchased their mobile billboard and hit the road.
Oakley said that although they were a bit nervous about the campaign, if just one person gets vaccinated because of it, it’s worth it.
However the clever stunt still took some explaining online, with one Twitter user telling those confused online it was a “satirical, dark PRO-vaccine ad”.
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