No need to double-check the license plate on these Lyft rides before getting in.
The ride-hailing company surprised some customers in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago last week by picking them up in an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. The rides included music, neon lights, free shirts, hot dog masks and a souvenir Weenie Whistle.
Customers in those cities received a notification on their phone that they might get to relish such a unique experience by summoning a Lyft XL.
“Oscar Mayer has a legacy of elevating enjoyment from people’s plates into pop culture — from our 27-foot-long Wienermobile, to the iconic Weenie Whistle, to the famed ‘Oh, I wish’ jingle,” said Megan Lang, Oscar Mayer associate marketing director. “With the world as our canvas and meat as our medium, we want to do all we can to spark unexpected smiles wherever we go.”
The promotion comes after the food brand’s newest campaign, “Keep It Oscar,” launched this spring to encourage customers to take life a little less seriously. The ads brought to life animated visions of sliced-bread mattresses and turkey sheets, toddlers with hot dog-stealing superpowers, sandwich specters floating to the afterlife and bacon slice faceoffs.
Some social media users, noting that the offer coincided with a new University of Michigan study that noted hot dogs’ negative health effects, joked that each ride would take 36 minutes off your life.