In the US, campaigns to fight drunken driving often sound like this:
But in a small town on Prince Edward Island in Canada, the police are threatening to deter drunken driving in a different way:
It's Nickelback! The "dark, high-octane" Canadian rock band everyone loves to hate.
Police in the town of Kensington are using the band's album "Silver Side Up" to punish drunken drivers. Cops are threatening that anyone picked up for drunken driving will have to sit in the cruiser and listen to the entire Nickelback album — on cassette.
For a lot of people, that wouldn't just deter drunken driving. It might count as torture.
Constable Robb Hartlen told the CBC that he was just trying to inject "a little humor into the very serious matter of drinking and driving."
He also begrudgingly admitted that he actually likes a few of Nickelback's songs.
"Poor Nickelback," Hartlen added. "They take the brunt of a nation's joke, and I'm sure they're crying all the way to the bank."
Likewise, just before Thanksgiving, police in Wyoming, Minnesota, were on the same wavelength. The police department tweeted, "Do NOT drive drunk. I will find you. I will arrest you. I will make you listen to One Direction cover bands on the way to jail." That also went viral quickly.
Do NOT drive drunk. I will find you. I will arrest you. I will make you listen to One Direction cover bands on the way to jail.
— Wyoming, MN Police (@wyomingpd) November 23, 2016
From PRI's The World ©2016 PRI
