(The following article by Michele Besso was posted on the News Journal website on June 18.)
WILMINGTON, Del. — “Girls don’t like flat guys.”
Or, more specifically, guys who get flattened by trains.
This is according to the CSX Corporation, as part of a controversial new marketing campaign the company is trying out to warn people to be careful about crossing railroad tracks.
The railroad company recently introduced the safety campaign in Newark by giving away T-shirts with the slogans “Girls don’t like flat guys” and “I didn’t get hit by a train today,” at Newark Nite. It also hired people to walk through the crowd, tap people on the shoulder, hand them a card and walk away.
The card — emblazoned with the CSX logo — said “Trains don’t make a sound when they come up behind you. Stay off the tracks.”
Ingenious or offensive marketing? You be the judge.
The in-your-face statements may seem crass, but if they save one person from dying on the tracks, CSX officials say it’s worth it. Especially in college towns like Newark, where 17 people have been struck — eight fatally — on the CSX line since 1994.
“I’m told a million times a day things to do to stay safe and I tune out 99 percent of them,” CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said. “We wanted to be the 1 percent that doesn’t get tuned out. CSX and our advertising agency used guerrilla marketing tactics to really make you think.”
CSX decided it wanted to reach college students in the towns where its rail lines cross or run close to campus. UD has had one of the highest numbers of incidents.