Engen has converted the outer walls of Spaza shops in Alexandra and other parts of Gauteng into Covid-19 educational murals to help raise awareness in local communities around key safety measures in the fight against the global pandemic.
Engen worked with spaza shop owners across the iconic township and others in the Eastern and Western Cape and in KwaZulu-Natal. The safety messages are in a variety of languages and are meant to drive deeper awareness in townships and informal settlements.
Engen’s public education drives not only sees the walls of these popular township convenience businesses converted into educational murals on Engen colours, but the petroleum giant will also be remunerating the spaza shop owners for the media space.
The visual safety and hygiene messages in vernacular languages stress the importance of regular hand washing, social distancing, covering one’s mouth when coughing and sneezing and regular disinfecting and cleaning of surfaces, among others.
Spaza shop owners have also been provided with safety materials, including information brochures and hand sanitisers for their own and customer use, as well as given training about safety and hygiene measures so that they can help educate their customers.
Engen will also broadcast safety and hygiene messages on 40 digital screens in townships across Gauteng and the Western Cape.
According to Khalid Latiff, Engen’s general manager of corporate strategy and communications, Out of Home communication is being used to drive deeper safety awareness, especially in densely populated areas such as townships and informal settlements, whose residents might not have access to social and traditional media channels.
