MESSAGING: So I’ve noticed that just about every story encouraging people to get vaccinated features a needle. Sometimes it’s actually being stuck into someone, sometime it’s just being held up.

A lot of people are afraid of needles — some say it’s over 25% of the population. Does every story featuring the “jab” (maybe also bad marketing — “jab” doesn’t sound very gentle) have to feature a needle? If your goal is to encourage people to be vaccinated, does it make sense to accentuate the part of the process that lots of people fear, and that nobody really enjoys?

It’s like illustrating car ads with a picture of someone changing a tire. Bad salesmanship. But it’s everywhere.