Everyone’s being urged to stay at home to stop the spread of COVID-19, which is especially difficult for people who like to travel.
To help spread the message to self-isolate, some creative people have mimicked the tropes of travel marketing to encourage people to do just the opposite of travel.
These faux travel posters by illustrator Jennifer Baer are a particularly brilliant example:
Hi. I designed some coronavirus travel posters for you. Stay the F* home. Love you all. pic.twitter.com/mzY52GFm6Z
— Jennifer Baer (@jenniferbaer) March 26, 2020
Vancouver International Airport has followed a similar tack by designing a series of amusing postcards that make our homes sound as exciting as any tourist destination:
Send one of these handy digital postcards to a friend and remind them to stay home! And unless you are on essential travel or a working employee, please don’t come to YVR. #StayHome pic.twitter.com/NU8pnaaD24
— YVR (@yvrairport) April 2, 2020
While digital postcards are amusing, now might be a good time to reach out to someone you miss with a real, physical postcard, like these charming ones:
An artist friend has designed these postcards for people to send to loved ones they can’t see. A hug, a thought, a lift out of loneliness or just a note to say thank you. She’ll donate 5p per card sold to the National Emergencies Trust to support their Coronavirus appeal. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/mvTkmcRB8M
— Mrs Marsh (@MrsMarshLibrary) April 2, 2020
In Washington, one company is paying unemployed workers $15/hour to write postcards to people locked in during the pandemic. The tweet below is sent by Postcrossing Project, a collaborative community of postcard enthusiasts who send cards to random strangers around the world. If you aren’t already a member, now sounds like a great time to join them.
https://twitter.com/postcrossing/status/1245646740281122821
And while our ability to travel freely has been diminished, thus inspiring the projects listed above, a lot of what we watch and read uses wartime imagery to remind us we are in a battle for our lives. Perhaps it’s time to hearken back to the war propaganda posters of old to encourage us to keep up the fight:
Some posters for our era, via my old neighbor from DC @markkelnerstudio on Insta. Please feel free to share. pic.twitter.com/JbKn82unMI
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) April 1, 2020
