The new campaign “Non driving generation” urges Jönköping’s young people to skip the car and take the bus instead.
Criticism has been raised in social media for encouraging young people to be “lazy” – while the positive response highlights that young people are encouraged to create climate-friendly habits.
– It’s a campaign we try to do a little with a twinkle in our eye, says Annelie Jönsson, marketing and communications manager at Jönköping county traffic.
“Society needs more people who can’t drive” it says on the buses in Jönköping County. It is a campaign that since November has encouraged young people to travel by bus instead of car and is visible both on the buses and in social media.
– It’s a campaign when we try to do it a little with a twinkle in our eye. It has been received positively by the young people who are the target group, says Annelie Jönsson, marketing and communications manager at Jönköping County Transport.
She says that it has achieved the desired result – that more young people buy monthly cards.
Arousing debate on social media
When Jönköpings-Posten put up a Facebook post about the campaign, and in an editorial called it “absolutely right in time”, it sparked a storm of comments.
“Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!! To encourage even more young people to become helpless, awkward adults who can’t fend for themselves… Quite often you need a driver’s license to get a job! But maybe mom and dad should drive too?! They already come along to job interviews,” writes a reader in the comment field.
Annelie Jönsson believes that the views they receive are more general linked to public transport in general, for example people who say they cannot take the bus where they live or complain that it does not arrive on time.
– It is our mission to attract more people to use public transport. What we can ascertain with this campaign is that sales have increased among those it is aimed at, then it is not a campaign that is aimed at those who are 50 plus for example, says Annelie Jönsson.
The hope with the campaign is to contribute together to a better environment and a more sustainable society, states JLT in a press release.