Malta Public Transport is attempting to get more locals to use the bus with a new advertising campaign that aims to leverage Maltese xenophobia.
The campaign was launched on Wednesday morning and consists of several billboards depicting foreign-looking people using public transport, with the message ‘Hate this foreigner? Take his/her seat.’ Video ads will also run on local TV channels.
MPT’s head of marketing Julian Portelli explained that the company did not endorse racism or xenophobia, but had run out of ideas.
“We’ve tried everything to get people to ditch their cars and use the bus instead. We thought we’d finally nailed it when we made public transport free. After all, what do Maltese people love more than free stuff?” Portelli said.
“I’ll tell you what they love more – complaining that there are too many foreigners in the country. Specifically, they love complaining that buses are full of foreigners, even though some of the locals in question don’t even use public transport themselves.
“So with this campaign, we’re setting Maltese people a challenge – if you don’t like that foreigners use the bus, use the bus yourself and deprive them of their seat,” he said.
Portelli noted that, if the campaign is successful, this would create other problems down the line.
“All those foreigners who’ve lost their seats will probably have to buy a car, but racists don’t think that far ahead. We could of course increase the size of the bus fleet to accommodate everyone, but then politicians won’t have the ‘overpopulation’ card to rile people up with.”
At the time of writing, bus use among Maltese people had increased by 300 percent.
