Center for Health Communication

Tag: PSA

“It’s Up to You” COVID-19 vaccine education campaign launches, aims to replace concern with confidence in getting vaccinated

A public service ad campaign…aims to convince Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, telling them “It’s Up to You.”…The large, national campaign is producing an array of English and Spanish ads for TV, billboards, bus shelters, social media and publications…Although vaccines have been available…in the U.S. since mid-December, the timing of the ad campaign is actually good, said Jay Winsten, a Harvard University public health communications expert. It takes a while for people who question the effectiveness or safety of vaccines to gain faith in shots, said Winsten…it also helps that millions of Americans have already gotten shots, and they did not suffer serious side effects … Continue reading

Effective public health ads/PSAs require clear, actionable, steps combined with credible stories from ‘the right messengers’

Marketing experts say public health advertising often falls short because it incites people’s worst fears rather than providing clear steps viewers can take to save lives. They say lessons from opioid messaging can inform campaigns seeking to influence behavior that could help curb the coronavirus pandemic, such as wearing masks, not gathering in big groups and getting a covid-19 vaccine…’It needs the right messengers: well-known individuals who have high credibility within specific population groups that currently are hesitant about taking the vaccine,’ [Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s, Jay] Winsten said … Continue reading