COVID vaccine ads something from a ‘communist government committee’, says ABC presenter

May 20, 2021 9:16

The ABC’s producer and broadcaster, Dr Norman Swan, has compared the Federal Government’s $24 million COVID-19 vaccine immunisation campaign to something produced by a “communist government committee”.

Speaking on his daily podcast, Coronacast, Dr Swan said the style of advertisements chosen by the government were failing to produce the desired outcome and were “not enough”.

“We’ve got some of the best advertising creatives in the world in Australia, and we could produce, if we unleashed them, they could produce some amazing creative, rather than something that looks as if it’s been created by a communist government committee,” said Dr Swan.

Neighbouring nations, New Zealand and Singapore have chosen to channel humour, and creativity, with quirky songs and everyday people to get the message about vaccination across. Speaking of those campaigns, Dr Swan said: “I think it is better than having one of the government doctors with a stethoscope around their neck having the immunisation.

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Olivia Kruimel

Olivia Kruimel was the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.