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Original poster

Government messaging

178 replies

OliveTree75 · 12/02/2022 14:41

Hello,
Been thinking recently how in years to come the Covid pandemic will most likely be studied in education all over the world.
What do you think the views on the government messaging will be in the future?
Looking back now, I find some of them hard to look at. We have been subjected to so much fear and whilst I agree we had to take action, I can’t help but wonder if some of these posters were a step too far.

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8
MarshaBradyo · 13/02/2022 13:21

@CorrBlimeyGG

Anyone that thinks 'the healthcare crisis has passed' is delusional or very ignorant.
Anyone that thinks the costs of keeping measures in place are worth it when the peak has passed is delusional.
QueenofDestruction · 13/02/2022 13:22

I think in future they will be shocked that people were so self centred not only did they destroy the earth with their greed but they needed these sort of posters to behave considerably of others

MarshaBradyo · 13/02/2022 13:22

…or very ignorant.

SexyLittleNosferatu · 13/02/2022 13:26

There are a lot of people who are really struggling with going back to normal, and will push hard against it with emotive blackmailing language. What I don't understand is why they can't just continue with whatever they've previously been doing to "stay safe", and let the rest of us get on with it.

Buzzinwithbez · 13/02/2022 13:30

And again here is the unfounded accusation that caution is 'living a half life' and 'doom mongering

And yet you took exception to me talking about living life well.

RichTeaRichTea · 13/02/2022 14:08

There are several views here.

  • covid was/is dangerous and it’s worth using this kind of messaging to get it across to people
  • covid was/is dangerous but there is no need to use this kind of messaging
  • covid wasn’t as dangerous as made out so this messaging was unnecessary or it had another agenda

Im kind of in the second one. There were risks with covid but I disagree that this is what was needed to get people to comply with restrictions. There are better ways to get people on board with public health measures, they have been well researched, the govt clearly chose not to use that route. They have unnecessarily created further problems that could have been avoided or mitigated

balalake · 13/02/2022 14:34

I expect that physical messaging such as posters will not be studied much. More attention will be on whether the restrictions were the right ones (not sure), at the right time to be implemented (I think later than should have been and so in place for longer), and there will be a lot about the alleged (or by then proven) behaviour of Mr Johnson and others in Downing Street.

MarshaBradyo · 13/02/2022 14:36

@SexyLittleNosferatu

There are a lot of people who are really struggling with going back to normal, and will push hard against it with emotive blackmailing language. What I don't understand is why they can't just continue with whatever they've previously been doing to "stay safe", and let the rest of us get on with it.
Yes we’ll see some emotive posts, we already are.

It’s likely a sense of losing control over others which unfortunately has been a side effect of pandemic

BestKnitterInScotland · 13/02/2022 14:58

@Emergency73

Tbh if I saw any poster and I thought it was a bit OTT, I’d just ignore it.

If I decide to smoke, I don’t read the cigarette packet - and start hyperventilating/cowering in a corner…

When the patronising Scottish government adverts with Jason Leitch or whoever come on the telly banging on about staying safe and "flow before you go" and stopping the spread and making safer choices everyone in this house just mutters "fuck OFF Nicola" at the telly.

The comparison with smoking is ridiculous. Clearly. Risks of smoking are known - it is a known "risky" activity. If you wish to smoke, you are damaging mostly yourself. You have to actively choose to go and buy cigarettes

The Covid hyperbolic propaganda was trying to shame people for doing normal things which we all HAVE to do every day. Leaving the house to go to work. Going to Tesco for milk. Chatting to a friend in the street. We were being told that these previously everyday behaviours are now incredibly dangerous, and if we choose to to and buy that pint of milk someone else will die. And then the little passive aggressive undertones of "could you live with yourself if a granny died" bollocks.

Yes the messages were contradictory - protect the NHS against "don't kill granny". An illness which was not life-threatening for most against "people will die". The messaging actively encouraged the snoopers and the busybodies and the vigilantes who lapped it up and frothed endlessly on here about people TOUCHING GATES or SITTING ON BENCHES. Hmm

Agree that there will be endless PhDs written on all of this in decades to come.

Emergency73 · 13/02/2022 15:39

@BestKnitterInScotland

Not really - it’s a public health ad, and they always give a strong message. I’m not sure a public health ad with rainbows/unicorns/fairies is really going to do the job. I have never seen these ads before this post. They do seem a ‘bit’ OTT, but I’m looking at them in retrospect. No one knew what the f was happening in 2020.

I never felt shamed into doing normal things, I was just careful. I could get food, exercise - and I knew it wouldn’t be forever.

I get the impression that you ‘want’ people to think we were persecuted, that there was some whole major agenda against mankind. There was/is a pandemic going on. Or are you denying that?

Original poster
OliveTree75 · 13/02/2022 15:43

The ‘look into my eyes’ ones were from jan 2021, when most people had realised they weren’t really at risk! Then we had Delta so they ramped up the emotional messages even further!

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Original poster
OliveTree75 · 13/02/2022 15:47

I can’t believe some people never saw these posters! They were everywhere - tv adverts, bus stops, radio…even tied to railings all over my town!

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Emergency73 · 13/02/2022 15:56

Nope - never seen them. I remember an Omicron one that looked like a hula hoop. And it didn’t send me cowering under my bedcovers, afraid to set foot out my house.

MarshaBradyo · 13/02/2022 16:01

I doubt pp who want all restrictions lifted were cowering.

I remember more the messaging with omicron and OTT posts on here about society collapse, SAGE numbers and school closures and definite lockdowns.

All together which cost even more in terms of lost demand - over £1bn

Emergency73 · 13/02/2022 16:01

But I would imagine there is a correlation between anti mask, anti vaxx, anti restrictions, anti science and having a meltdown over these ads…
Think most people weren’t bothered by them particularly.

MarshaBradyo · 13/02/2022 16:03

@Emergency73

But I would imagine there is a correlation between anti mask, anti vaxx, anti restrictions, anti science and having a meltdown over these ads… Think most people weren’t bothered by them particularly.
Probably because it felt comforting in some way to have fears represented in some way

Hence annoyance that all reporting of cases etc is ending

Nothing to build fear around

Original poster
OliveTree75 · 13/02/2022 16:03

@Emergency73

But I would imagine there is a correlation between anti mask, anti vaxx, anti restrictions, anti science and having a meltdown over these ads… Think most people weren’t bothered by them particularly.
What a ridiculous comment! Had all my jabs, still wear my mask in shops, still think the adverts were awful.
OP posts:
StarCat2020 · 13/02/2022 16:14

Agree

Government messaging
nordica · 13/02/2022 16:17

It's easy to say this now when the situation is completely different thanks to vaccines, treatments and two years worth of knowledge and experience. Just look at the early images from Italy if you need a reminder of what it was like then and what could have happened without strict measures in place. You could equally say the messaging worked and we avoided an even worse public health crisis.

Some people still don't seem to realise the measures were never in place to protect any individual from covid, they were in place to ensure if you had a heart attack or your toddler was injured, there'd be a health service available to help.

RG2468 · 13/02/2022 16:19

I’ve had Covid and been fine but I’m still actually petrified - it’s definitely been a psychological game and very dmamaging

Emergency73 · 13/02/2022 16:27

@OliveTree75 I wasn’t referring to you - more the likes of Laura Dodsworth and her ‘State of Fear’ book which is more about psychological reactance/personal liberty dressed up as ‘fear’.

Annoys me hugely that people will - on one hand preach all sorts of bullshit about Covid under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’.

And then on the other hand be left quaking by an ad.

RichTeaRichTea · 13/02/2022 16:34

@Emergency73

But I would imagine there is a correlation between anti mask, anti vaxx, anti restrictions, anti science and having a meltdown over these ads… Think most people weren’t bothered by them particularly.
Who is having a “meltdown”? I think it’s easier to dismiss as part of the anti-vax anti mask stuff than engage maybe. Some of us have to deal daily with the consequences of shit public health messaging (both in terms of covid and other stuff)
LyricalBlowToTheJaw · 13/02/2022 16:46

Two points that have already been made but apparently, judging by some of the recent contributions, need making again.

  1. This is not a hindsight thing. It was already known by March 2020 that there are problems with public health messaging relying on shame and stigma. If you personally didn't know, that's ok, but you need to understand that this isn't new knowledge.
I remember in particular discussion about the stupidity and unfairness of public transport shaming on here at the time too. Think there was a thread about a particular newspaper headline in a similar vein. It was clear even in spring 2020 that bitching about people crowding onto public transport when they need it to get to their work out of the home was problematic.
  1. Public health messaging isn't a binary choice between approaches reliant on terror and shaming or rainbows and unicorns.
RichTeaRichTea · 13/02/2022 16:47

It’s like all these people on MN threads who think that fat people are fat because there just isn’t enough shame associated with being fat any more. Absolutely no clue and no real proper engagement with what would have meaningful impact. Just want the shame as a goal in itself.

RichTeaRichTea · 13/02/2022 16:49

Yes LyricalBlowToTheJaw, the issues have been raised before in relation to these ads. There weren’t any “meltdowns” that I saw