Fight vaccine skepticism

As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available across the US, one of the biggest hurdles to herd immunity is hesitancy around receiving it. Mistrust in vaccines has been rising in the US in recent years driven by politics and false narratives about their effectiveness, development, and side effects. By March 2021, about 30% of Americans remained hesitant about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. As a national effort got underway to get as many Americans vaccinated as possible, the Ad Council partnered with BPI to specifically reach vaccine skeptics with a message that might change their minds.

Through in-depth research and polling, we were able to define a vaccine-hesitant audience to reach with persuasive vaccine messages and identify zip codes where there was a higher concentration of hesitant individuals to run more efficient media. We then identified the false narratives that were doing the most harm as well as the most effective counter-narratives.

With the help of the influencer and paid media teams, we do more than simply try to combat skepticism with traditional advertising - something that is innately seen as spinning. Instead, the campaign amplifies critical voices and relevant news stories. Each week, positive stories about the vaccine are identified and promoted to persuadable audiences. These counter-narrative stories respond directly to the themes of that week’s most influential attacks and target the most persuadable audiences to counteract any harmful narratives as they emerge.