Ad Council’s Challenge: Persuade Skeptics to Believe in COVID Vaccines

Introduction by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications.

Persuading skeptics to take the COVID vaccine shouldn’t be this difficult.  From the polio vaccine in the 1950’s  and ’60’s (anyone remember SOS – Sabin Oral Sunday ?) to H1N1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has carefully crafted messages to help the public understand important public health concerns.  After the 2001 anthrax attacks – when white powder in envelopes sparked widespread panic – the CDC created a 450-page manual outlining how U.S. leaders should talk to the public during crises.

The CDC guidebook, with “Be first. Be right. Be credible.” on the front cover was developed by the country’s top doctors, public health researchers, scientists, consultants and behavioral psychologists.

This guidebook has been used for the last 18 years by responsible elected officials and public health directors to offer guidance and instill confidence in a wide variety of situations.  This guidebook also provides the underpinning for much of the advice Hennes Communications gives to its clients, even on non-health related situations.

Today, however, a large number of elected officials across the U.S. have decided to ignore this guidebook, leaving the public with, at best, mixed messages, and at worst, lies, fabrications and misinformation.  You can read details of the dichotomy between those elected officials and the public health community here.

With two or three vaccines about to begin distribution and with the economy, the education of children, the lives of so many hanging in the balance and with no time to waste, the Ad Council is stepping into the breach with a series of tight, concise messages intended to convince the public to roll their sleeves up as soon as the vaccine is available to them.

Tiffany Hsu, writing in The New York Times, tells the story:

With coronavirus cases on the rise and communities returning to lockdown across the country, a marketing push is underway to persuade skeptical Americans to immunize themselves once vaccines are ready.

The federal government, which has sent mixed messages about a pandemic that has caused more than 250,000 deaths nationwide, is not leading the charge. Instead, the private sector is backing a planned $50 million campaign to persuade people to protect themselves at a time when polls have suggested that more than 40 percent of adult Americans are not confident in a potential vaccine.

The Ad Council, a nonprofit advertising group, led a similar effort in the 1950s, when it urged Americans to get vaccinated against polio. Its Covid-19 vaccination push will be one of the largest public education crusades in history, the group said. On Monday, the Ad Council will announce the new campaign and start testing messaging. It will start rolling out public service announcements across airwaves, publications and social media next year, when vaccines are expected to be approved and made available to the public.

You can read the rest of this piece from the NY Times here.