This is an initiative that is far from unanimous in Austria. As Le Parisien reports, the Austrian government has decided to offer a year of public transport to people who decide to get “Klimaticket”, the name of the country’s national public transport program, tattooed on their bodies. “A promotion in the skin”, advances the account of the program, which launched a competition on July 7 with the public present at the Electric Love festival, in Salzburg. Only the first three people to get a tattoo could benefit from this offer.
This unprecedented action, carried out by the Austrian Climate Minister, Leonore Gewessler, did not fail to make Internet users and other political opponents react. “I know about dodgy tattoos, often done spontaneously in a party mood. The KlimaTicket is especially unworthy in this case. Offering money to people to put an advertisement under their skin highlights an unacceptable consideration of the human being on the part of the authorities, ”lamented in particular Austrian MP for the liberal Neos party, Henrike Brandstötter.
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National media were also outraged. Der Standard pointed to a “sustainably stupid” offer while the Salzburger Nachrichten pointed to “thinly veiled cynicism”, spotted our colleagues. Quoted by Euronews, Leonore Gewessler defended herself by pointing out that tattoos were “reserved for adults” and only done “during the day”, suggesting that the risk of tattooing under the influence of alcohol was minimized.
In Austria, the KlimaTicket is a great success. Launched in 2021, it aims to encourage the population to use public transport and is currently used by 245,000 people (out of 9 million inhabitants). It works for almost all public transport in the country and allows young people, seniors and people with disabilities to travel throughout the country for 3 euros per day – or 1,095 euros for an annual card.