EVEN the chickens are concerned about the Kingdom’s erratic drivers. They are laying eggs with messages on them — “Drive safely” and “No speeding.”
Jokes aside, in fact Sahba, the largest and oldest egg-producing company here in the Kingdom, has been doing just that: stamping messages on the million eggs it produces daily in hopes that drivers will become more aware of road safety as they eat that sunny side up for breakfast!
“Everyone puts their logo on the eggs. We do too, but I thought, why not give the consumers a community service message as well,” Rashed Al-Baker, managing director of Sahba, said, speaking on the phone from Riyadh.
“Like everyone else, I have children and I am concerned that the Kingdom has a very high accident rate. I thought by putting Arabic messages on our eggs that I might be making some contribution to creating public awareness.”
Was there any ripple? Was there any feedback? “We are not looking for feedback,” he said. “Our intention is to create public awareness and now we’ve added a message — ‘Buckle up’ — in both English and Arabic. This is to remind people they must use seatbelts.”
Al-Baker said he was a little disappointed when he got no reaction from the traffic department. “We sent them a sample of our eggs, thinking they might appreciate our efforts but we heard nothing from them.”
Laser printers are used to put the messages on the eggs. When asked if that increased the cost of the eggs, Al-Baker replied in the negative. When customers were asked about the eggs with a message, most of them said it was creative and showed a commendable public spirit but they all agreed that strict enforcement of the law by the police would reduce the Kingdom’s unacceptably high accident rate.