Why we haven't seen many Indian ads tackling vaccine hesitancy.

Vaccines became available in India at a comparatively late date. And even then, demand outstripped supply. In such a scenario, it did not make?sense to encourage people to go for the jab. The more immediate and easily available protection against Covid was the humble mask. And despite the rules in place about its required use and its importance being stressed through various channels, many people still did not wear one. Or did not wear one properly. These factors came together to prompt advertising to focus on the importance of masks rather than vaccines.

?Later, when India’s vaccination programme started gaining momentum, some brands did put out messages encouraging vaccination. The most moving one was Facebook’s video in which a young man called Rizwan tries to persuade?an elderly lady to get vaccinated. She is most reluctant. And he is equally determined. Their relationship evolves and the story progresses to a moving end.

?Another piece of communication that I found impactful was the one released by Ghadi detergent. It made a powerful connection between the polio vaccine of yesteryears and the Covid vaccine of today.

Of course, there is a lot more room for communication to help overcome vaccine hesitancy. Many agencies, including ours, have proposed the idea to clients and presented scripts too. Ultimately, a brand has to back this kind of messaging for it to see the light of day. The other route is the NGO one—but these organisations generally lack the resources to sustain such a campaign.

Brands need to be convinced that dispelling vaccine hesitancy will have a positive rub-off on them. Also, I suspect that the vaccine hesitancy prevalent in the general populace is present among brand owners as well. So, in a curious way, vaccine hesitancy is itself partly responsible for the lack of messaging to combat vaccine hesitancy.

That's another barrier that needs to be crossed.

—Sumanto Chattopadhyay

A part of this writeup recently appeared as my quote to The Drum.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Sumanto Chattopadhyay的更多文章

  • 3 Books I Love

    3 Books I Love

    Hello, fellow story seekers! This little literary expedition uncovers three treasures that are more than just…

    9 条评论
  • Marketing Valentine's Day

    Marketing Valentine's Day

    As internet penetration rises in India, so does, well, Valentine’s Day penetration. (Do note that all the egregious…

    10 条评论
  • English from the Eiffel Tower: coup d'état, tête-à-tête and voilà.

    English from the Eiffel Tower: coup d'état, tête-à-tête and voilà.

    Bonjour, my fellow language enthusiasts! Today, we take a look at three words or phrases that have their roots in the…

    2 条评论
  • My Predictions for 2022

    My Predictions for 2022

    My Predictions for 2022 My predictions for 2022 are a mixture of projection, prophecy and hope. But I do believe they…

  • Murals of the Mara

    Murals of the Mara

    Murals of the Mara by Sumanto Chattopadhyay I walk under a canopy, reading. A series of arches, made of trees.

    3 条评论
  • Lockdown Learnings: Overcoming my Luddite mindset

    Lockdown Learnings: Overcoming my Luddite mindset

    I’m a bit of a Luddite. I’m also The English Nut – which is why I use words like Luddite.

    15 条评论
  • Why I am a Grammar Nazi

    Why I am a Grammar Nazi

    A friend gifted me a t-shirt that read, ‘I am silently judging your grammar.’ He knows me well: It is not so much that…

    64 条评论
  • A Time of Vulnerability

    A Time of Vulnerability

    ‘The wound is the place where the light enters.’ I had bumped into this quote of the Sufi mystic Rumi a thousand times.

    11 条评论
  • The Bad Brief

    The Bad Brief

    —Sumanto Chattopadhyay A bad brief is one that comes with fear attached. Fear that makes you try to second-guess the…

    26 条评论
  • 5 Novels I Recommend

    5 Novels I Recommend

    But first, why you should read. Why should you read a novel in the first place? I would say for pure pleasure.

    15 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了