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Original poster

TV adverts changing the message

25 replies

ChocOrange1 · 02/07/2021 22:30

During the last few months most TV adverts have talked about "keeping you safe" or "staying safe", showing people with masks or social distancing.

Has anyone noticed that this seems to have changed, and the messaging is more about getting back to normal? I saw an HSBC advert with a woman visiting a crowded market, going to the bank, then hugging her grandkids - not a mask in sight. Then an NHS advert where the young man has his vaccination, then hugs his friends and goes clubbing.

It seems like the government are trying to back track on all the scaremongering over the last 15 months. Thoughts on this?

OP posts:
Forstarters · 02/07/2021 22:39

Thoughts? HSBC are not the government. Probably just an old ad. Or one they made when they thought lockdown was going to finish 21 June.

Vaccination one is pretty simple. Get vaccinated and you can resume life.

How could you possibly conceive this as backtracking as opposed to moving forward now most people are vaccinated

Rosehip10 · 02/07/2021 22:40

That is actually a halifax advert.

Original poster
ChocOrange1 · 02/07/2021 22:42

@Rosehip10

That is actually a halifax advert.
Yes you're right, sorry!
OP posts:
Thewiseoneincognito · 03/07/2021 01:01

Google have done it too with their YouTube ads. It’s all just wishful thinking to condition you into believing thousands of cases per day is normal and everything is ‘fine’. A bit like Eat out to help out, it’s supposed to help but will ultimately be a big catalyst for further problems.

I just hope they haven’t deleted the old ads because they’ll need them again once it becomes blatantly obvious we can not live with Covid without mitigation’s in place.

RainbowCrayons · 03/07/2021 02:54

@Forstarters

Thoughts? HSBC are not the government. Probably just an old ad. Or one they made when they thought lockdown was going to finish 21 June.

Vaccination one is pretty simple. Get vaccinated and you can resume life.

How could you possibly conceive this as backtracking as opposed to moving forward now most people are vaccinated

This! The focus is on moving forward with vaccination rather than going backwards but thank goodness for that!
Thehenbunringsock · 03/07/2021 03:46

Of course the government want us to get back to normal. Why wouldn't they? Do you want doom and gloom forever?

Mindymomo · 03/07/2021 06:37

I think it’s forward thinking. In the soaps there isn’t so many mask wearing scenes anymore, but as these are filmed in advance, I suppose they filmed prior the old opening up date of 21 June.

Doublestar · 03/07/2021 06:45

They need people to start getting out and spending money so project fear is now project "there's nothing to worry about any more if you are jabbed" - isn't it obvious?

girlmom21 · 03/07/2021 06:53

Last year they needed people to stop living their lives as they normally would.
Soon they'll need us to start going back to normal.
It's not a difficult concept.

lljkk · 03/07/2021 07:03

Isn't it a good thing if private companies can have different messages and ideas from a preferred govt line?

Bobholll · 03/07/2021 07:07

Well, good. I think that’s reflective of life now really. It feels pretty normal to me! The only thing that reminds me is masks, which I’m far more inclined to forget these days as life is so normal! The amount of times I get up from a table in the cafe & forget or I walk into the petrol station & forget. I’m not anti-mask at all but I just don’t think about covid anymore really!

The only thing that makes me anxious is isolation.. I feel it’s only a matter if time that my kids bubbles burst 🙄 sounds like close contact will be dropped in July though 🙏🏼

TheVampiresWife · 03/07/2021 07:53

I just hope they haven’t deleted the old ads because they’ll need them again once it becomes blatantly obvious we can not live with Covid without mitigation’s in place

Unless we want even more livelihoods lost and an even bigger mental health crisis I'm afraid that at some point, we're going to have to.

MrsTophamHat · 03/07/2021 08:16

While I don't mind seeing life represented with masked faces here and there I am happy to have fewer of the earnest "keeping you safe", "now, more than ever" style stuff from companies.

I've hated it all along. We all know there is a pandemic. We surely don't need hazard tape and voiceovers every five minutes in the supermarket and on TV.

TheGenealogist · 03/07/2021 08:21

Thank fuck we;ve moved on from the sombre music, the masked, crying medics and the pious "Can you look them in the eye and say you've done everything you could to stop the spread"?

Rosesareyellow · 03/07/2021 08:26

Yea it sounds like it too me. Just like they’ve had to back track on all this ‘protect the NHS’ because thousands of people have not been going to their GP with potential cancer symptoms for fear of being a bother. It was very badly thought out.

RedToothBrush · 03/07/2021 08:26

Private company trying to sell lifestyle shit about finance uses positive images about the future shocker.

Put it another way, do you think images about the pending apocalypse are likely to encourage people to buy products about saving and planning for their financial future?

I know this is the extreme version of the point but it illustrates it well. People want to invest in a happy idealistic future without worries and concerns. Positive marketing is much more effective in getting people to do something which involves long term thinking than saying the next 5 years is going to be shit and you or one of your family might die (which might encourage you to live for the moment instead and spend all your money).

Its got fuck all to do with covid and everything to do with how advertising works and the type of service they are trying to market.

Warhertisuff · 03/07/2021 08:29

It seems like the government are trying to back track on all the scaremongering over the last 15 months. Thoughts on this?

It's not "back-tracking". It's moving forward. Vaccines have entirely changed the equation. I'm not sure why this should be shocking to anyone?

Honey12346 · 03/07/2021 08:29

They got the green light from the govt they can stop making people scared. I hated the masked ads and are one of the reasons I don't watch TV. TV is suppose to be escapism not doom and gloom. Not to mention it was like an alternative reality when they were showing zoom xmas celebrations meanwhile everyone I know stopped following the rules and had a normal Christmas

TheVampiresWife · 03/07/2021 09:32

@TheGenealogist

Thank fuck we;ve moved on from the sombre music, the masked, crying medics and the pious "Can you look them in the eye and say you've done everything you could to stop the spread"?
Or my particular favourite - 'If you go out, people WILL die'

It's not surprising people's mental health is fucked.

roguetomato · 03/07/2021 09:37

I think it's quite scary that people try to read into everything. That every message has hidden meaning.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 03/07/2021 09:45

@RedToothBrush

Private company trying to sell lifestyle shit about finance uses positive images about the future shocker.

Put it another way, do you think images about the pending apocalypse are likely to encourage people to buy products about saving and planning for their financial future?

I know this is the extreme version of the point but it illustrates it well. People want to invest in a happy idealistic future without worries and concerns. Positive marketing is much more effective in getting people to do something which involves long term thinking than saying the next 5 years is going to be shit and you or one of your family might die (which might encourage you to live for the moment instead and spend all your money).

Its got fuck all to do with covid and everything to do with how advertising works and the type of service they are trying to market.

In a nutshell. If we ever see a Halifax ad showing naked mutants beating the shit out of each other in a smouldering wasteland over a turnip, it'll be time to worry.

'At Halifax, all our staff are armed with nail-studded clubs in order to make sure that your foraged roots remain safe from the un-people.'

TheVampiresWife · 03/07/2021 10:18

@roguetomato

I think it's quite scary that people try to read into everything. That every message has hidden meaning.
Advertising is full of subtle hidden messages!
buffyajp · 03/07/2021 10:29

@Thewiseoneincognito

Google have done it too with their YouTube ads. It’s all just wishful thinking to condition you into believing thousands of cases per day is normal and everything is ‘fine’. A bit like Eat out to help out, it’s supposed to help but will ultimately be a big catalyst for further problems.

I just hope they haven’t deleted the old ads because they’ll need them again once it becomes blatantly obvious we can not live with Covid without mitigation’s in place.

Oh dear. I fear you are going to be sorely disappointed then. Johnson has made it abundantly clear that there will be no turning back once restrictions lift regardless of numbers. There is absolutely no justification for them when death rates and hospital admissions remain low. The link has been severed. Feel free to carry on with them in your own life but you don’t get to dictate to other people how they live. I will most certainly not be living in fear any longer.
AChickenCalledDaal · 03/07/2021 10:31

Halifax made the ad in advance of the 21 June removal of restrictions. That didn't happen. So now it looks like wishful thinking. I still quite like it as a reminder that normal life will come - and is gradually doing so. And the baby is very cute.

roguetomato · 03/07/2021 13:11

@TheVampiresWife, yes of course. But people start seeing hidden messages from gov, not from the actual ads that presents.

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