CHARLOTTE (WJZY) — On game day in Charlotte, North Carolina, thousands flood the streets to watch the Panthers face off against any given opponent.
On Sunday, something new caught the eye of tailgaters. A truck, circling the Queen City with a message: “Don’t Get Vaccinated.”
For a split second, those who read it might think it is an anti-vaccination campaign, until you see what is beneath the message: the name of a funeral home.
“It is very genius what they did,” said local resident Keith Gabriel. “You see ‘don’t get vaccinated’ and either you are intrigued, or you are disarmed by what you see. But either way, clickbait right? You are going to click and see what is on the other side of that website, so it was a great advertisement for whoever made that advertising,” Gabriel said.
The funeral home does not exist, but it does have a website. No number, address, or ‘about me’ are listed. One link in the center of the page brings you to the website of a Charlotte vaccination clinic run by StarMed.
When asked if StarMed had anything to do with the ad, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Arin Piramzadiam said, “From my understanding, the answer is currently no. I do not know of anyone in our team that has done this, but I am the last to know for some things.”
Piramzadiam said that while he is unaware of who is behind the ad, he backs its message.
“It definitely has a bit of dark humor associated with it, but whoever is doing it obviously has the same thought process as we do, where vaccines save lives,” Piramzadiam said.