Students encourage voter registration through QR codes

Students created T-shirts and hoodies to encourage US citizens to vote in upcoming gun control legislation.

A group of students from student-led protest group March for Our Lives have created clothes adorned with QR codes that link to a voting registration website. The campaign organisers are predominantly students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, US, site of a mass shooting in February 2018.

The campaign’s main focus is to support tighter gun control for US citizens in the wake of the school massacre that killed 17 people. The merchandise allows smartphone users to scan the QR code on the T-shirt design. The purpose is to encourage participants to register and vote in the upcoming November 2018 midterm elections. The QR codes on the front of the shirts therefore provide direct links to online registration sites. These are accessible to voters in 38 of America’s 50 states. All items of clothing feature the American flag, with the QR code sitting in place of the stars. The flag’s usual 13 red stripes have also been expanded to look like a barcode.

So far, around 10,000 people have registered to vote via the merchandise’s QR codes. The merchandise’s designer isy March For Our Lives creative director Jammal Lemy. He is a T-shirt designer and also a former Parkland student. All money raised through the sales of the items will go towards funding the campaign. Prices for the range are $44.99 USD for hoodies and $29.99 USD for long-sleeved shirts. Short-sleeved tees then cost just $24.99 USD.

QR codes are a popular method to direct traffic directly to a source. They were included within a building in Esslingen in Germany, directing smartphone users to more information about the city’s people and history. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s tourist board also took an artistic twist on QR codes to encourage visitors to learn more about the area.