Heather McDonald has so many friends and relatives who are “struggling” in the oilfield downturn, she wanted to show her support in a tangible way.
Figuring a sense of humour never hurts, the Red Deer resident came up with a vinyl bumper sticker for her boyfriend’s truck that states: “I love oil and gas … This thing doesn’t run on fairy dust and unicorn piss!”
Her boyfriend, like many central Albertans, is experiencing a slowdown in his oilfield work.
“A few of the jobs that were supposed to be going on in the new year have been currently shelved due to our economic uncertainty and lack of ... government support for our oil and gas industry,” McDonald explained.
When she gave him the decal, “he got a good chuckle out of it,” she recalled, and a few of his co-workers put in orders for their own bumper stickers.
Requests from family and friends have been so encouraging McDonald put a photo of her work on the local Facebook Buy and Sell page, as well as her hobby page, Windows to the Soul. She thought it would be nice “to get a few extra dollars for bills …”
If she gets enough response, McDonald said she intends to give five per cent of proceeds from her $10 bumper stickers to oilfield rally groups.
While “there have been a couple of naysayers,” people seem to like the tongue-in-cheek way she’s getting her message of support across, said McDonald, who has received some requests for wording variations.
She also came up with “Doesn’t run on tree hugging and rainbows …”
The crafter maintains her decals are fully customizable, and they are cut from an outdoor vinyl that can last up to six years exposed to the elements.
“I currently have the ability to create as many as are ordered with a 72-hour turn-around time,” since she also has a full-time job working at a local boiler service company.
Besides empathizing with unemployed and under-employed central Albertans, McDonald said she tackled the project to show support for an industry she’s worked in for the past decade.
