Residents have mixed feelings over large ad on Wash. ferry

If you haven’t seen the newest sight on the water, the front of the Washington State Ferries (WSF) vessel Tacoma has a large Coca-Cola advertisement wrapped around the boat promoting recycling.

“It’s part of our advertising vendors sales,” Washington State Ferry Spokesperson Ian Sterling told KIRO Newsradio. “A lot of times you’ll see those ads on the inside of ferries for different products and that type of thing. In this case, it just happens to be on the outside, and it’s definitely getting noticed, maybe because of the color red.”

A photo of the ferry adorning the advertisement was seen on Reddit’s Seattle page.

“I hate it,” one Redditor posted. “It’s generating dollars for the state ferry system,” another wrote.

“My PNW eyes feel violated and a red ad on that color pallet is especially f*****,” another Redditor responded. “No one’s gonna wanna take their picture in front of that,” another local resident posted.

Love it or hate it, the ad is expected to stay there for a little while.

“This is one of those things that just helps offset the price of operating ferries,” Sterling said. “So, last year (WSF) brought in about $450,000 through advertising, primarily on the inside of the vessels and terminals.

“It’s pretty rare for advertisers to advertise on the outside of the boats just because it’s a little more cost-prohibitive,” Sterling added. But this was part of Coca-Cola. It was a bigger advertising campaign in my understanding at Colman Dock and Bainbridge and, of course, the Tacoma ferry now.”

Seattle’s fleet includes 21 ferries in service across Puget Sound and the greater Salish Sea. The state of Washington has the largest ferry system with 21 vessels calling on 20 different ports of call, according to Travelpedia. Approximately 4.6 million people ride the Seattle/Bainbridge Island route each year.

“The money generated by advertising dollars goes into the Puget Sound ferry operating fund, essentially,” Sterling added. “I think a lot of people don’t realize, because it is expensive, but for the most part, state ferries are subsidized, just like any other form of transit as far as the buses or that type of thing goes. The fare you’re paying is actually partly paid for by the taxpayers all over the state. And so this helps save money for those taxpayers.”

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