Austrians turn their bodies into billboards – for a transport pass

Posted on : 09/18/2023
Austrians turn their bodies into billboards – for a transport pass
Travel 

Would YOU turn your body into a billboard? Austrian festivalgoers received permanent tattoos advertising a public transport pass – in return for a year’s worth of free travel

  • Six people received the 1,000-euro travel pass in exchange for getting the tattoo
  • Promotion was criticised as representing an ‘unacceptable view of humanity’
  • READ MORE: Britons spend up to 72 HOURS a year planning trips due to ‘FOBO’

What would your price be for a permanent tattoo?

For some people in Austria – it’s a year’s worth of free travel on public transport, as a controversial campaign for the country’s ‘KlimaTicket’ (climate ticket) revealed.

Austria’s KlimaTicket is a 1,000-euro (£860/$1,070) public transport pass – and the promotion gave one away to anyone willing to turn their body into an advertising space and have a permanent tattoo of the word KlimaTicket inked on their skin.

Pop-up tattoo parlours were set up at the recent Frequency Festival and Electric Love Festival in Austria, and the first three people to come forward at each event for a tattoo received the pass.

The campaign was a government initiative to promote the KlimaTicket and the importance of public transport.

Austria’s KlimaTicket is a 1,000-euro (£860/$1,070) public transport pass – and a promotion gave one away to anyone willing to turn their body into an advertising space and have a permanent tattoo of the word KlimaTicket inked on their skin 

For those wanting to support the cause with something less permanent, free temporary tattoos were offered with designs related to public transport, sustainability and climate change.

Austria’s climate minister, Leonore Gewessler, sported one such temporary tattoo, of the KlimaTicket mascot. 

The scheme garnered a mixed reaction, with some applauding it and others criticising the minister for using people’s skin to advertise her policies. 

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Henrike Brandstötter, a member of Austria’s NEOS party, said: ‘Offering money to advertise under the skin – and that from a minister – reveals an unacceptable view of humanity.’

Another user asked: ‘Is this such an exemplary action? Motivating young adults to get tattoos?’

While ‘Mathias Neumayr’ wrote: ‘The whole thing is a marketing and PR campaign that appeals very well to the local target group.’ 

Pop-up tattoo parlours (above) were set up at the recent Frequency Festival and Electric Love Festival, in Austria, and the first three people to come forward at each event received the pass 

A spokesperson for the Austrian Ministry of Climate Action told MailOnline Travel: ‘Naturally, the campaign can be seen as a more provocative one, but the people who voluntarily decided to get a tattoo had to be at least 18 years old in Austria.

‘So we are talking about adults at an age, where they themselves decide what their profession is, decide to get married, build a house or even get a tattoo.’

The KlimaTicket annual pass costs 1,095 euros and allows customers to use all scheduled services in Austria – public and private – for a year, starting from the date of purchase.

It is part of a scheme designed to encourage Austrians to use public transport as a climate-friendly alternative to driving, according to the KlimaTicket website.

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