The federal government tonight released a graphic and emotional commercial for Sydney as COVID-19 cases surge in Australia’s largest city.
The tone is different from a national campaign released earlier today.
“It’s quite graphic,” chief health officer Paul Kelly told a media conference.
“This is not a time for complacency.”
The message: “Stay at home. Get tested. Book in for a vaccination.”
The commercial shows a woman in a hospital bed struggling to breathe.
The viewer is told: “COVID-19 can affect anyone. Stay home. Get tested. Book your vaccination.”
Tom van Laer, associate professor of Narratology at the University of Sydney, says fear-based ads need three factors to work:
- The fear is moderate.
- The ad recommends an action that clearly stops the threat.
- People are convinced they can do what's needed.
"The third ingredient is missing, unless the line 'book your vaccination' is cut," he says.
"In its current form, this ad will only result in defensiveness and denial, because sadly this ad is launched in this environment of incredibly intense anti-vaccination aggression.
"We've had lots of these little so-called experts saying: 'You can only use the AstraZeneca vaccine in the under-50s if they’re upside down, drinking a milkshake'."
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