The artwork behind a viral online postcard campaign by Melbourne creatives Guillermo Carvajal and Jess Wheeler has been acquired by the Melbourne Museum and the State Library of Victoria.
The tongue-in-cheek anti-tourism campaign urged Melbournians to Stay the Absolute F**k Away from regional Victoria during the pandemic lockdown.
The zero-budget campaign was heavily shared on social media platforms before making its way across major metro and rural news publications, radio and television, clocking up millions in earned media for the towns of regional Victoria.
It was so successful, regional towns flooded the creatives with requests to include them in the campaign.
An online store was setup to purchase the artwork on items such as clothing, stickers and towels. Proceeds went to mental health organisation, LifeLine Australia.
“We could never have expected this," say Guillermo and Jess.
" What started as six images posted online ended up being plastered all over every form of media and destroyed our inboxes with thousands of messages.
"Every town in Victoria wanted to be part of it. And they wanted tea towels. Boy, did they want tea towels. And now, with the worst hopefully behind us, and the state reunited, it’s starting to sink in that we’ve made a meme that’s going in a museum. What a time to be alive.”
The artwork will be now be held permanently by the State Library of Victoria and included in the Melbourne Museum’s Pandemic Collection for future generations, with plans for it to also display in a 2020 centennial in 2120.
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