Canadians are turning their cars into rolling billboards to raise awareness of different causes
When the remains of 215 children were found last year on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Stephen Bernard knew he wanted to do something to keep people talking about the trauma suffered by Indigenous children. So, he turned to his car.
Bernard, from Lennox Island, P.E.I., is the son of a residential school survivor. Inspired by the Every Child Matters initiative, he decided to have his car wrapped in the movement’s signature orange to, “raise awareness of what we went through, what our parents went through.”
Bernard brought his idea to Dan’s Muffler Signs and Decals in nearby Summerside, where he explained to graphic designer Christopher Rayner what he had in mind. “I wanted the car all orange, and I wanted the little footprints and handprints,” Bernard said. “I also wanted to include the number 215 — the first found.”
Rayner said he was honoured to do the work, which involved entirely vinyl-wrapping Bernard’s formerly silver Hyundai Veloster. The result is a bright orange, Every Child Matters rally cry decorated with small hands and feet.
One of the first trips Bernard took in his car was to a community in Nova Scotia close to the former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. His car did what he had hoped, which was to attract attention and ignite conversation.
“I was surrounded by people. Lots of people were taking pictures with their kids,” Bernard said. “They asked me about my car, and I told them about what’s on the sides, and what it means.”
That Bernard achieved his goal — using his medium as his message — makes sense to Stacey Sheehy, a marketing professor at the Pilon School of Business in Mississauga.
“It’s the authenticity that helps make this form of message communication strong, because it’s more personalized,” said Sheehy. “It’s similar to influencer marketing in that a localized ambassador for a cause is putting the word out.”
Using a car as a conversation starter, a low-fi invitation into an emotionally charged topic, can be an effective way to raise awareness for a cause, said Sheehy.
“It’s a way to invite people to talk, discuss, show support. It’s a very outward invitation to engage on an important matter,” she said. “This form of cause marketing — wrapping your car in messaging you believe in — is an effective way to promote a cause and hopefully build a sense of community around it. You get the honks, the thumbs up.”
In another example of community messaging, an Ontario woman recently covered the windows of her vehicles with handwritten signs to find her mother a donor kidney. Last fall, Jenny Raspberry of Kincardine wrote, “Our Grammy needs a new kidney, can you be a match?” and similar messages on her van and car, seeking help for her mother, Paulette, who needed an organ transplant to save her life.
Paulette received the much-needed kidney last December from an unknown donor. “I want to thank all my friends, and this awesome community, for all your support while we were searching for a new kidney for my amazing mother,” Raspberry wrote in a social media post. “I am happy to announce that she has received the gift of a donor kidney! What a great Christmas gift for our whole family.”
Raspberry’s rolling billboard led to more than 20 people signing up to get tested to see if they were a donor match. Sheehy said this is an example of how impactful a grassroots approach can be.
“When the right message is delivered using the right medium, it can resonate with the right people,” she said.
Further south, you can find dozens of examples of people using their vehicles to drive awareness. During Autism Awareness Month, a Texas woman decorated her car with puzzle pieces, in part because it delighted her son who is autistic, but also to initiate conversations about autism spectrum disorder. Another woman, also from Texas, covered her car with images of victims of drunk drivers as a warning to other motorists about the real-life costs of driving under the influence. People are also using their cars to support mental health initiatives, promote community events and find lost pets.
Closer to home, Stephen Bernard is not the only one who’s taken the message of reconciliation and awareness to the streets. Orange Shirt Society founder Phyllis Webstad purchased a bright orange Dodge Ram truck in advance of last September’s inaugural Orange Shirt Day, and had it emblazoned with the movement’s logo and website. Webstad said it’s been a dream of hers to have an orange truck for parades, Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to drive to presentations.
For his part, Bernard said he has certainly garnered his share of real-life “likes.” He’s received only positive responses to his car. “I’ll go through the drive-thru at Tim’s and they’ll tell me my coffee’s been paid for,” he said. “Just yesterday, a guy drove by, tooted his horn with thumbs up.”
“I’ll keep it like this,” Bernard said about his Veloster.
Keyword: Taking your message on the road