This ‘text and drive’ billboard has everyone wound up
The billboard, which went up earlier this month (May 2016) next to a highway in Toronto, has caused quite a stir.
The provocative message, which reads: ‘TEXT AND DRIVE‘ followed by “Wathan Funeral Home” was meant as a blatant way to get motorists to stop texting and driving.
Unfortunately not everyone saw the humour in it.
However, according to adweek,com the Wathan Funeral Home isn’t real and was a PSA from the Montreal office of agency John St. The aim was to curb the high rate of accidents caused by texting and driving in Canada.
When angry motorists looked up the funeral home online and accessed the site, they were met with a welcome message:
“Welcome
If you’re here, you’ve probably seen our “Text and Drive” billboard. And if you have, you probably came to this website to tell us what horrible people we are for running an ad like that. And you’d be right.
It is a horrible thing for a funeral home to do.
But we’re not a funeral home.
We’re just trying to get Canadians to stop texting and driving, which, if current trends continue, is expected to exceed fatalities from drinking and driving as early as next year. And while most people wouldn’t even think about drinking and driving, over half of Ontario drivers admit to reading texts while behind the wheel. That’s more than half of the drivers on the road today risking their lives, their passengers’ lives and the lives of their fellow motorists and pedestrians.
Which should make you even madder
than our billboard did.”
Let us know your thoughts about the billboard. Send us your comments to [email protected].