Free Petrol for Civilized Driving
Anyone who has been squeezed aboveground by the teeming masses in the city's subway system is sure to have noticed the flu-like spread of a little sticker across the rear windows of Beijing automobiles. For those of you who – while weaving through traffic on your flying pigeon, zoning out in the back of a cab or gripping the handrail on that shit-it's-just-as-crowded-as-the-subway bus – wonder what the sticker is all about and why one in six car owners are willing to attach it to their pride and joy, we offer this short introduction.
Part public relations coup and part attempt to improve the manners and rule-obeying behavior of Beijing's drivers, Sinopec's Changxing 2008 (畅行2008) campaign has the stated goals of helping Beijing prepare for the Olympics and improving the city’s dismal traffic. Since its launch three months ago, the campaign has taken the city by storm - there are now over 500,000 cars with the “Changxing 2008” sticker attached to their rear window.
What makes the Changxing 2008 campaign stand out from the many other wenming (civilizing) campaigns with which the poor Beijing populace is bombarded (lining up for buses, the 10 Olympic do's and don'ts etc), is that this campaign manages to offer real financial incentives (free fuel – even more precious after recent price hikes!) and a pinch of reality TV.
The way it works is that those who agree to attach these stickers (they’re available for free at all Sinopec petrol stations) to their car are giving permission for a Beijing television station to secretly film them driving. Every day, the reporters from the Honglüdeng (Traffic Light) program head out on the streets to find six winners – six drivers with the sticker attached to their car who are able to drive for 10 minutes while being filmed without displaying any bu wenming or uncivilized behavior. If the drivers can make it through the full ten minutes, their license plate number will be displayed on this website and they will have won themselves 200 kuai worth of fuel from any Sinopec petrol station and a 300 kuai card for what looks like car cleaning services.
Aside from the Traffic Light program, the footage of drivers is also displayed on CCTV's 《交通北京》Traffic Beijing and on the official website –though we did have difficulty trying to get the media player to work.
From the popularity of the campaign, it seems that Sinopec has managed something of a marketing and public relations coup (but being a virtual monopoly it's not that they really have to worry about that kind of thing) of being able to associate their brand with such a popular and positive activity. Well worth the RMB 3,000 a day that it’s costing them.
For those car drivers out there who want to get some of that free fuel - the campaign runs through until September 8, 2008.
Links and Sources:
Sinopec's English Website
Official Site of the Campaign
BTV: 《红绿灯》
Beijing Evening News: “畅行2008”奥运文明行车邀您参与
Sina: 长城润滑油张秀甜主任与专家聊“畅行2008”
Sina: 京城车主争做不文明行车“终结者”