Annoying Music Saves Lives in Ukrainian Seatbelt Stunt

In Ukraine, over 75% of drivers do not wear seatbelts. This means that hundreds of road traffic deaths there could have been prevented if people changed their behaviour.

Transportation platform Bolt recently partnered with the agency BBDO Ukraine and production company DGTL RLGN to convince people to fasten their seatbelts, using an unconventional method.

Across the Russian-speaking world there is a genre of music called ‘blatnaya pesnya’, a kind of ‘shanson’ music that often depicts and romanticises criminal subculture and the urban underworld. In Ukraine, taxi drivers frequently play this kind of music, often to the annoyance of their riders.

BBDO Ukraine decided to use this kind of music for good. Creating a song in the genre that people couldn’t stand. Then Bolt drivers played the track loudly as they picked up passengers. 

The lyrics hinted at the message - “Save your ears. Fasten seatbelt” - but when riders asked their Bolt drivers to turn down the annoying song, they couldn’t. The only way to stop the racket was to plug in your seatbelt. The car had been specially adapted so that as soon as the passengers were riding safely, their ears would be saved from the din of the annoying music.