Romanian music fest gives free tickets in exchange for blood

 

Bucharest: Romania is tapping into the Dracula legend, offering concert-goers free tickets in exchange for their blood. The campaign is part of a push to increase blood donations in a country where only 1.7 percent of the people donate blood. 

 

Adrian Chereji, marketing director for the UNTOLD Festival, said Monday the “Pay with Blood” campaign, jointly organized with the National Blood Transfusion Institute, aims to raise public awareness.

 

Mobile blood collection units will be set up in 42 Romanian cities for 10 days this month. Donators in Bucharest and Cluj will be eligible for free tickets for an electro-dance music festival in the Transylvanian city of Cluj. Cut-price tickets will be offered to donators elsewhere. Transylvania is the home of the fictional blood-sucking Dracula featured in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel.  

 

According to BBC,  Romania has one of the lowest figures for blood donation in the whole of Europe - less than 2% of the population are active donors, far lower than elsewhere in the European Union.