‘One lady wasn’t happy’: Melbourne woman’s fake parking fines cause a stir

No one likes that sinking feeling when you walk toward your parked car and see a white piece of paper under your wipers.

RELATED: Can a private company enforce a parking fine?

However, several drivers in Melbourne who recently experienced this same sinking feeling were surprised to find the parking tickets left on their windshields weren't council-issued, but rather part of a marketing scheme.

In an effort to promote her photography business, Karina Horton of Melbourne-based photography business Kamalia Studio posted a video on TikTok of herself leaving numerous fake parking fines on the windshields of legally parked cars in Melbourne's Bayside area.

Printed on what looks like a parking ticket, complete with an infringement number at the top, Ms Horton printed the following message: "Notice to owners: We saw you pull into this car park, and I wanted to tell you that you look absolutely beautiful today. Your smile could light up a whole room.

"Please remember to take that risk you've been thinking about because life is too short to be happy."

She then used the note to promote her photography business with a message and a QR code to scan: "Just to make your day a little more special than you already are, I want to give you $30 towards my beach prints… I promise you'll love them".

While it's certainly a clever marketing tactic, the comments on the original TikTok video were divided, with some calling it harmless, while others said it was causing unnecessary stress.

"This is so wholesome," one user wrote. "Stop it. I'm crying," said another.

However, one commenter wrote, "No, this would make me have a panic attack".

Drive reached out to Ms Horton to find out just how effective her marketing campaign was. The photographer said she handed out about 50 fake parking fines and saw a nice boost in traffic to her website.

"I found it very successful in making people's days brighter and spreading awareness of my print business. We watched some people get them and they had a big smile on their face; however, one lady wasn’t happy and couldn’t see the bright side of the message," Ms Horton said.

After the mixed response to her original video, Ms Horton posted a follow-up video with the caption "You decided to do a random act of kindness to make people's day but it took a turn for the worse".

In the second video, Ms Horton shared other media coverage of the faux fines, as well as an anonymous email she'd received calling her idea "stupid and thoughtless".

This kind of trick marketing is not new. Grace Garrick, from an Australian PR company, was one of the first people to use it, sharing her idea on TikTok back in 2022.

"This is one of my proudest concepts. These fake parking tickets were, in fact, vouchers, and the consumer who received this actually got a $10 voucher, so it kind of plays with the consumer's emotions," Ms Garrick said on TikTok of the stunt.

What do you think of this marketing tactic? Let us know in the comments…