Ad campaign begins to encourage coronavirus vaccination

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Thu, 2021-02-25 09:30 — mike kraft

‘It’s Up to You’: Ad campaign to encourage coronavirus vaccination gets underway The campaign - the first concerted effort urging Americans to get vaccinated against coronavirus - is geared toward those unsure about getting shots. Dan Diamond Washington Post

For tens of millions of Americans still unsure about taking coronavirus vaccine shots, advertising industry experts and government scientists have a new message: “It’s Up to You.”

That message and accompanying ad campaign — shaped by months of consumer research and backed by more than $50 million in donated funds — is to be unveiled Thursday across TV and digital video, social media and audio platforms like Pandora and Spotify. It also will include messaging tailored toward Black and Hispanic communities, where studies have found a lack of trust about the coronavirus vaccines and their long-term effects. The ads and related events will feature celebrities, scientists and members of the faith community.

The campaign — the first concerted effort urging Americans to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus — will further encourage those skeptical of the vaccines to visit a new website, getvaccineanswers.org, for the latest information on the safety and availability of vaccines.

The campaign was overseen by the Ad Council — the nonprofit communications industry group responsible for landmark ads such as Smokey Bear and famous public health messages including “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” — which has billed “It’s Up to You” as one of the largest public education efforts in U.S. history. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closely consulted on the campaign, which was announced in November as the first coronavirus vaccines were nearing release. The CDC’s branding also will appear in ads.

The goal of the campaign is to win over skeptical Americans, whose numbers are considered likely to be the difference between enough people being vaccinated and failing to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nearly 45 million Americans have received at least one shot of the two-dose regimen as of Wednesday, according to Washington Post data. Experts want more than 100 million more to be inoculated once the vaccines become more widely available in the coming weeks.

But many people remain hesitant. According to a recent AP/NORC poll, about 1 in 3 Americans said they definitely would not or probably would not get the coronavirus vaccine. The poll showed that 57 percent of Black Americans said they have received or planned to get the vaccine, compared with 65 percent of Hispanic Americans and 68 percent of White Americans.

Ad Council researchers also found that some possible messaging approaches, such as encouraging Americans to be vaccinated because it’s “the right thing to do,” were rejected as pushy or accusatory in surveyed groups.

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