Rubber ducks were doubling as environmental activists last week when B.C.’s Dogwood Initiative, the group behind the “No Tankers” campaign, painted 450 of the toys black and floated them in Vancouver public fountains to raise awareness around the oil debate on the province’s coast.

Executed by the Vancouver office of Rethink, the non-toxic rubber ducks were chosen because they normally remind people of happier things, says Solomon Gauthier, account service director at the agency. All the reusable ducks were blazoned with the No Tankers logo to call attention to the cause.

“We wanted a creative idea to show what would happen if there was an oil spill,” he says. “We are targeting people who are unaware of the No Tankers movement in B.C. The idea for the execution came from Kim Ridgewell, who is a member of the creative team and is passionate about the issue like many Rethinkers are.”

The Dogwood Initiative’s “No Tankers” campaign was organized to bring attention to two proposals which it says will bring more oil tanker traffic to B.C.’s inside coastal waters.