The Mask and the Corona Virus and the Art of Publicity

THE MASK AND THE CORONA VIRUS AND THE ART OF PUBLICITY
Wed. Nov. 4th, 2020; posted Sat. Nov. 7th, 2020

I try to wear the mask while I am out in public during the corona virus. 

Our nation, and maybe other nations too, had a short time in March to get out the word about wearing masks, and it did not go well.

When you need to instruct the people on what they should do when trouble arises, you have a limited amount of time to instruct them.  If you attain wisdom on what words you should have used to instruct the people after the window of opportunity has closed, the people will reject your revised improved version of what you should have said.  They will say: You completely botched the job when you tried to instruct me the first time.  I will pay attention to YOU no longer.

That is why I respect the art of publicity.

Sometimes, when people think about the art of publicity, their mind goes to damage control.  Damage control is the technique of defending the honor of an organization or group after they have made a serious mistake.

Damage control is an important part of publicity.  But it is not the only part, and it is by no means the crown jewel of publicity.  To my way of thinking, damage control is the dunghole of publicity.  To me the crown jewel of publicity, the part I admire the most (when it works smoothly which is not always) is the work of making instructions understandable and palatable to the people who need to hear them.

That part of publicity is unnecessary in dictatorships.  Do what I say or I kill you.  That's how they do it in dictatorships.  But in democracies, making instructions understandable and palatable to people is very beneficial to society.

There are two parts to instructing the people.  The first part is figuring out what the people need to be reminded of, and what they need to hear possibly for the first time.  The second part is making it palatable.  The first part is like figuring out what active ingredients should go into the pill.  The second part (in a democracy), is like figuring out what to add to the active ingredients to make people willing to swallow the pill.

I cannot do the second part.  I can only do the first part.  Here is my sketch of what the first part (the active ingredients of the instruction) SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

(a) You wear a mask in public during the corona virus to protect other people.  Other people wear a mask in public during the corona virus to protect you.

(b) You obey orders from military officers to avoid being shot.  No one will shoot you if you disobey orders from public health officers, such as the order to wear a mask in public during this virus, but it is still unpatriotic to disobey them.

I have no idea how to make this message palatable.  But your publicity people, if you hire good ones, can transform these active ingredients into a message which will be the corona virus equivalent of ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES.

The Centers for Disease Control deserve to have good publicists.

Frank Newton