An ad saying 'don't get vaccinated' in North Carolina was meant to encourage the opposite

A billboard in North Carolina telling people not to get the COVID-19 vaccine was actually meant to do quite the opposite.

In downtown Charlotte on Sunday, those walking to and around Bank of America Stadium to see the Carolina Panthers face the New Orleans Saints could see a truck driving around with a black digital billboard that simply read, "Don't get vaccinated," in white lettering. Under the message was "Wilmore Funeral Home" and their web address.

But here's the catch: Wilmore Funeral Home doesn't exist, and visiting their website results in a message contrary to the one seen on the billboard.

"Get vaccinated now. If not, see you soon." When clicking the hyperlink on the message, the website redirects to StarMED Healthcare, a company that's been helping Charlotte residents get the COVID-19 vaccine.

After photos of the truck went viral on Twitter, the ad agency BooneOakley claimed responsibility for the ad, tweeting, "It was us. Get vaccinated."

David Oakley, owner of BooneOakley, told USA TODAY he came up with the idea to make the billboard. He said most pro-vaccine ads around the country are pretty similar and wanted something that stood out.

"We kind of were joking around like, 'well you know, undertakers and funeral homes are probably doing a great business right now,'" Oakley said.

Oakley and his team thought about a funeral home ad saying they don't want your business, but decided to flip it around. From there, the company was able to get StarMED on board with the idea.

"They were nervous and I was nervous about like putting the message out there. You never know when you put a provocative piece of advertising out how the public will take it," Oakley said.

Chris Dobbins, chief relations and response officer for StarMED, told WBTV in a statement, "While we recognize there are varying opinions and different types of media messages, we support all efforts to educate and motivate our community to prevent and stop the spread of this virus.”

The truck drove around Charlotte for a few hours beginning on Sunday morning. Oakley added the reasoning for that was to get the attention of all the fans headed to the football game. Since tailgating is a big event in the city, he wanted to give people, "a little more to talk about than just football."

The main reason for the billboard was North Carolina's "embarrassingly low" vaccination rate. North Carolina is one of 17 states with less than half of their population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to USA TODAY analysis. The state has 49% of the population fully vaccinated and 58% have received at least one dose.

Now days later, Oakley views the ad a great success.

"My feeling is if we could do something, put out an advertisement that would get one person vaccinated, it was worth every penny we paid for the Billboard," he said.

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NC funeral home ad says don't get vaccinated or they will see you soon