An entertaining new campaign has been launched to combat the sea of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines on social media that was branded an “infodemic” by the World Health Organization.
The Instagram-based campaign was created by healthcare agency FCB Health New York IPG and non-profit group GMHC and is fronted by drag queen and influencer Miz Jade.
As the glamorous and red-headed Ms. Information, the performer imparts facts about COVID-19 and coronavirus vaccines in a comedic style that bemoans the crippling impact of the pandemic on her social life.
The campaign’s creators hope that playfully portraying the virus as the destroyer of a “hot girl summer” will encourage members of the LGBTQ+ community to get vaccinated.
Ms. Information shares the facts in a fun way in a series of short video clips. Visitors to @therealmsinformation will encounter the drag queen wearing a figure-hugging leopard print dress and matching elbow-length gloves, imparting such witticisms as, “Girl, misinformation is spreading faster than a fire in a wig factory.”
Jason Cianciotto, GMHC’s senior managing director of institutional development & strategy, said that the campaign was a light-hearted alternative approach to putting hard pressure on the public to get vaccinated.
“We recognize that shaming people is not effective and can be detrimental to the well-being of the people we serve,” said Cianciotto. “We don’t want to lose the battle of misinformation about HIV/AIDS and Covid-19.”
Recent data analysis from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and PSB Insights found a high level of vaccine hesitancy in the black LGBTQ community.
The data is based on a survey of 22,000 adults in the United States which asked how many LGBTQ people may be unlikely to say they want to get vaccinated.
Overall, 42% of LGBTQ adults said that they were very likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine compared to just 39% of the general American population. However, only 29% of black LGBTQ said they were likely to get vaccinated.
In exploring the impact of misinformation about the vaccine on the LGBTQ community, HRCF observed: “Despite the vaccines’ being available for free, LGBTQ adults have concerns about the cost of the vaccine, especially LGBTQ adults of color, bisexual adults and transgender adults.”