What is our COVID-19 vaccine ad campaign missing? How could the government improve its messaging?
Last week, more than 2.5 million Australians tuned in to watch New South Wales absolutely demolish Queensland in the first State of Origin match for 2021. It's one of the biggest sporting events on the national calendar and on TV, it is prime advertising real estate. If you were running a major public health campaign, perhaps to vaccinate the nation against COVID-19, it might've seemed like a good opportunity to get that message out. But it's an opportunity federal health authorities seemingly passed up. If you can't picture the government's vaccination ad campaign, you probably are not alone. The ads have been criticised as "hard to find", and even "really boring" by some in the industry. The campaign is due for a shake-up, with a new-look campaign targeting a younger audience rolling out from next month. And there are plenty of good ads overseas to look to for inspiration  ones put out in France, New Zealand and Singapore have gone viral online over the past few weeks, for their creativity and sometimes for their quirkiness. Experts in fields like public health and behavioural science (the science of getting us to do things we might not otherwise) say it's overdue and critical. With the greatest of respect to infectious diseases physician Dr Nick Coatsworth, the current crop of Australian ads can seem a little dry. The first ads that rolled out a few months ago deliberately targeted people over 70, and took on a fairly serious tone. Some new ads apparently targeting people over 40 rolled out this week and, while they are a little livelier, they are still pretty straightforward. A spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt said the ads are targeting a specific audience with a specific message. "Dr Nick Coatsworth, in research, is shown as a trusted voice due to his role as an infectious diseases specialist and former Deputy Chief Medical Officer," they said. "This resonates with this age group and for those keen to be vaccinated who are wanting to know where to find their local clinic." Loading  Dr Jessica Kaufman from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute specialises in promoting vaccines, and said the primary issue with the current campaign is it's just not visible. "I think it's not really there," she said. "If I'm honest, I think it's hard to find  it's not very novel, it hasn't really adapted a lot." She said the new campaign needs to look and sound completely different. "The spokespeople are very white, they're very medical-based, and some people trust the medical establishment, but some people don't," she said. "And the campaign ads themselves are quite subdued, not made for entertainment." Ad agency BMF has been tasked with coming up with the new vaccine campaign and there are plenty of ideas as to what they could be doing. The current ads deliberately target only the age groups who can currently access the vaccine. Professor Kaufman said the government should be targeting everyone and making getting the vaccine seem like a normal, everyday and uncontroversial thing. "It's a mistake to not speak to all segments of the community, even though younger people haven't been eligible for the vaccine," she said. "They're all part of the conversation around the vaccine, everyone is speaking to friends and family who may be eligible. "And people are starting to form their own opinions about the vaccine and whether they're going to get it. "If no one is speaking to them, and no one is reassuring them or is addressing their concerns, then that just leaves them to may be more hesitant for longer." Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Convincing Australians to get vaccinated is actually a pretty different challenge, compared to the task in other parts of the world. Across most of the globe, where COVID-19 is a very present threat, there's a clear motivation to get vaccinated urgently. But in Australia, where significant outbreaks remain thankfully rare, that imminent risk of illness or death just isn't there. Behavioural economist Professor Bob Slomin from the University of Sydney argues it probably wouldn't hurt to remind people what's at stake, and shake out that complacency. He said the recent Victorian outbreak and subsequent lockdown was an opportunity to remind people that vaccines are a path out of the outbreak/lockdown cycle. "We don't need to have the same level of devastation to get people's attention focused on the potential downsides if we don't get vaccinated," he said. "The recent outbreak in Victoria saw a massive uptake of people that showed up to get vaccinated, setting records almost daily for several weeks. "And I think if, at the same time, we had tried to make that message very salient around the country to say, look, let's avoid being Victoria  I think that would have been very positive." Loading  Celebrities have been a big feature in a bunch of vaccine ads worldwide. In the UK, Elton John and Michael Caine starred in an ad for the NHS. In the US, all living former presidents (bar one)  Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter  were featured in an ad getting their jabs. And Australia actually did turn to a former football star for one ad. Mal Meninga was recruited to advertise the vaccine in rugby league-mad Papua New Guinea. But the Australian government has not yet seen fit to use the rugby league immortal, or any other notable celebrity, more widely. Professor Kaufman suggested while the evidence around the effectiveness of celebrities isn't clear, throwing a few in might not be a bad idea. "There's mixed evidence from research on how effective or how much a celebrity endorsement is of a public health measure really sways people," she said. Loading  "But it can't hurt in terms of increasing engagement, which I think is one of the most important things we need to be aiming for here. "We want people to watch an ad, share it, watch it again, watch it with someone else, and then talk about it. All of that normalises vaccination. "So if there's a celebrity in it, and that makes it more shareable, then I think that's a good thing." It would be wrong to pretend that an ad campaign can change every mind and fix a vaccine rollout altogether. But experts argue public health campaigns can be effective and push people in the right direction. Professor Slomin said most vaccine hesitancy in Australia is actually pretty soft. He said a lot of people expect they will get the vaccine eventually, they're just not rushing out to get a jab. "The vast majority of [those who are hesitant], I think they're just not deciding one way or the other," he said. "They're just waiting  there's no reason they feel like they have to decide today." Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 57 seconds 57 s The Singapore government's ad campaign promoting COVID vaccinations  Ads are one way to constantly remind people about the need to get vaccinated as soon as they can, rather than waiting around. If they go viral, and start appearing in (non-sponsored) spots in people's social media feeds, even better. But Professor Kaufman said just as useful is having influential people on the ground, in communities, making the case. "The thing that's actually going to address individual people's concerns, and individual communities' really specific concerns, is very much on-the-ground community engagement," she said. "Training of community members to answer questions, support for healthcare providers. "So we can't think that a single ad campaign is going to address hesitancy. "It's just really there to keep the vaccination campaign front of mind and to maybe reassure or normalise vaccination for those who are just very slightly on the fence."