The Chris Witty Video !

[Travelledtheworld]

Huge respect for Chris Witty dealing with a very difficult job.
But he isn't really the right person to front the Governments new video to tell people to stay at home.
Who would you use to get the message across to men, teenagers, deniers and other hard to influence people and what would they say ?

Influencers, celebrities and footballers are breaking and bending all the rules and plastering it all over Instagram, so no, none of them should be fronting a campaign about anything to do with COVID. It’s bad enough seeing them posting about ‘wear your mask, stay home, wash your hands...’ then breaking the rules on their own pages, I definitely don’t want to see them do it on an official campaign.

I think the OP is getting a hard time. I'm sure there are people who have been campaigning for free school meals to be extended long before Marcus Rashford, for example, but there is no doubt that his campaign had huge impact, partly due to the respect and status he holds from being a footballer and celebrity.

I don't think a footballer would be a good choice for the "stay at home" message, given that they're not. Musicians don't exactly have a reputation for being cautious and rule abiding, either - you would have to make sure whoever you got to do it wasn't then found snorting coke in an illegal nightclub a week later.

I don't know a lot of celebrities, so I don't know who would have much impact. Captain Tom? Bill Bailey?

ComDummings, you beat me to it.

I love Chris Whitty. But for gods sake will he get his own clicker to change sides!

Footballer wise Marcus Rashford? He seems to a be a fabulous human.

The Drs from Operation ouch, Dr Chris, Xand and Ronx,

However Proff Chris Whitty is the best person for the job. There is something I like about him. He is educated and knows what he is talking about.

@Frazzled2207

I respect Chris Whitty but I think JVT is better at engaging with the public and is a better media “face”.

People respect him for being pretty much the only person connected with the government for calling out Dominic Cummings about the ridiculous Barbara castle trip for starters.

Very true - not that Boris listened to JVT. Chris Whitty is very knowledgeable but not very charismatic.
For teens they are both too 'old fogey' I think.

It would be interesting to know the statistics of those who think Chris Whitty is best or is fine as the only person.

Eg
Age
Nationality,
Religious,
Ethnicity
Social class

Please don't underestimate the value of targeting messaging but also the consideration of how you target those hard to reach groups - and that's where who is a vital consideration.

Oh get tell me about it, puts huge dampener on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunion I tell you, and they put the video on at the start and finish, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten in my 1.5 hours of reminiscence that life is shit currently.

Actually my 90 year old Nanna is the one paying the least attention to what is being said. She shopped independently most days of the last lockdown. My teenagers on the other hand; one is working daily and seeing nobody outside of that, and hasn't since March. The other has only seen one other person since March, and that was only twice during the summer. So yeah, get stormzy to do a rap to my nanna.

"Actually my 90 year old Nanna is the one paying the least attention to what is being said"

This seems common with parents and other people saying the same about their parents/gparents. They just say that they have survivied the war and all the other things and will be fine.

I know for some people Chris Whitty might not be charismatic enough or might not appeal to certain demographics but we are in the middle of a pandemic and if you are being told to follow certain rules then you should bloody follow them , no matter who’s delivering the message.

If , say, we were in the middle of a war being bombed , would people still not listen to a boring politician about staying inside or would they only listen if a famous person told them to?
I guess it’s all to do with people really believing that they are alright Jack , until it has affected them .
Why can’t people just do as they’re told ?

@yankeedoodledandee , so frustrating

@lovelemoncurd

I thought we had thankfully got away from 'sack off the expert get someone glamourous and connected in' mentality that Gove and his chronies would have us all do.

I want the best expert telling me what to do thanks!

Quite: qualifications, knowledge, and experience probably carries more clout than pleasing the eye, fashionable, or down wid da yoof

I think he’s perfect for the job or JVT.

The news has been full of stories of lots of celebs breaking the rules etc.

I actually agree. I think it should be JVT. He has a bit more charisma. I really pay attention when he speaks. He’s a bit more ‘off the cuff’, a lot more personable. I don’t think Whitty needs to have charisma or change who he is at all, he’s a scientist & clearly incredibly clever & important. But JVT would def make me pay attention to those ads a lot more..

I don’t get it, whoever is giving out the message is telling us to stay at home etc etc why does it have to be done in a more personable manner for people to listen?

I also think JVT would be better and I would pay more attention to him, he is very easy to listen to

I think we could do with a range of people from all sorts of backgrounds to give out the message, not just Whitty. This message needs to get through to people of all ages, ethnicities and walks of life. Can't hurt, surely? If the message reaches even a few more people that way, that's a good thing.

whats needed is a variety of mechanisms. I haven’t seen the Whitty as so a bit baffled by where and how often its being aired.

I have seen the latest Kick it Out campaign which I think is very good,

A combination of the Whitty ad followed by a Kick it Out style ‘celebrity’ ad might be very effective.

Personally I trust The Brigadir

Are there any youngish, BAME, female virologists? (If not there ought to be!)

From my dealings with the public through my work in healthcare (gross generalisation- apologies), the over 85 cohort don’t entirely “get” Covid. Taking masks off to talk, wearing visibly dirty paper masks, licking fingers before trying to give you cash, masks under nose, not social distancing (at all - trying to shake my hand/ give me a hug!) - all only happening in the very elderly.

My DH calls him ‘charmless’. He really is devoid of personality.,

What does it matter what colour he is, whether he's gay or straight, where he's from and how cool he is? He knows his stuff! Shall we get rid of the Queen as well, let's face it she's pretty white and old as well now.

Danny Dyer or one of the Mitchell brothers

@Alfaix,

None of them virologists, but you might approve of
Deepti Gurdasani
Devri Sridhar
Sunetra Gupta (too old I guess -- oh, and a Lockdown skeptic)
Kaja Abbas (wrong sex)

but tbh, if you worry about the over 85s embracing social distancing, that group are overwhelmingly white British-born, and may therefore most heed a stereotypical doctor = mature calm male with nice British accent. Whitty & van Tam both tick the boxes. In my experience, the >75s are utterly terrified, though, and least likely to be reckless. They have "WE ARE SOCIAL DISTANCING!" signs up in their house windows around here.

Perhaps when we’re persuaded that representation, and being able to identify with whoever is in a position of authority, are all-important, we’re less inclined to heed the message unless the speaker ‘looks like’ us. Or worse, feel justified in ignoring it.