| More people would be wearing masks, or would have started using them earlier, had the sales pitch been: You're safer with a mask! Instead, the message was muddled badly—first questioning whether masks serve any purpose, and then stressing that the primary value in wearing a mask was to protect others.
"Seriously people," tweeted Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Feb. 29, "STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus." Nowadays, Adams says, "I'm begging you, wear a face covering." It wasn't until June that the World Health Organization began advising that wearing a mask was a good idea.
But even when the WHO and thought leaders like Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shifted on the mask issue, they dwelled for many months about protecting the other guy. "You could literally kill someone because you didn't want to wear a mask," Cuomo said last May. "I mean how cruel and irresponsible would that be?"
Of course, Cuomo was correct—but his sales pitch was dead wrong. Had he said, "You could literally kill yourself," he would have been accurate and more persuasive. An article in The Atlantic magazine last April advised, "Don't Wear a Mask for Yourself." This was typical of reporting in the early months of the pandemic, when altruism was stressed. Surgeon General Adams tweeted, "I show my patriotism by wearing a face covering in public!"
Maybe in different times patriotism would have been persuasive for more Americans than self-preservation. Then, again, when the campaign against cigarette smoking was launched it didn't focus at first on the dangers of second-hand smoke. The Surgeon General's warning on cigarette packs was essentially: Don't kill yourself.
Now, the nation faces a similar challenge in determining how to sell Americans on taking the coronavirus vaccine as soon as they are eligible. And again, a good argument can be made that by getting vaccinated you help build herd immunity and everyone benefits. As Dr. Fauci put it recently, "you create an umbrella of protection over society that protects the vulnerable."
That might be how medical science sells something, but it's not how Madison Avenue would look at it. The goal is getting the greatest number of people onboard, never mind why. A plan that "protects the vulnerable" just isn't as compelling in today's America as a strategy to save yourself.
A related strategy involves convincing people that "everyone is doing it." Researchers in Japan found that most people wearing masks during the pandemic did so because they wanted to conform to group behavior. You might say the "herd" in this case was a herd of sheep.
But in the U.S. that, too, was bollixed. Media often focused on people not wearing masks—such as crowds at Trump rallies. While newsworthy, the images reinforced the notion that not everyone is doing it. The most effective promotion would be to show vast gatherings where people are wearing masks.
For vaccines, it might be useful to show celebrities getting shots in the arm but the most compelling images will be those of ordinary folks, lining up when their turn comes, to willingly participate. Think back to last month's election. Nothing encouraged turnout more than news footage of ordinary citizens standing in long lines for early voting.
A recent USA Today editorial suggested another smart tactic for getting the most Americans vaccinated — pay people to get the shot. Sounds misguided, but it would help achieve the goal.
In sum: Trade altruism for selfishness. Show everyone is doing it. Close the deal with cash.
That's a mighty cynical Rx. It's every man for himself, because we're all in this together.
(c) Peter Funt. This column originally appeared in USA Today.
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